In Memory Of
As we go out about our daily activities we collectors are a little bit different breed. We will search high and low, sometimes bordering on obsession to find that next lure or field find. They can come from rummage sales, auctions, antique stores, pawn shops or just about anywhere. However as we add to our collection we are adding history, stories, and at times other peoples collections.
This page is dedicated to those who have gone before us. Those who have protected the lures that have been passed down to us. Each lure we hold has a story with lots of people behind it. Here are some of my lures stories.
THE FORMER TIM COCHRAN COLLECTION
Tim was a collector from Florida and loved to fish. Tim passed away in 2003. His wife Virginia has allowed me the honor of being the next caretaker of his most treasured lures. Below is a photo of Tim with a nice bass he caught and a small sampling of his collection. A special thank you to Virginia. I will take good care of these.
THE FORMER EARL SMITH COLLECTION
Earl Smith was a member of the NFLCC. In 2001 he passed away. I never knew Earl but I met his wife and arranged for the purchase of his entire collection. I purchased the collection on 12/01/01. Earl had collected for over 20 years and as you can imagine had amassed quite a large array of antique lures, reels and literature. As I've gone through some of this collection I wish I would have gotten the chance to meet him. His collection was absolutely huge, numbering around 800-1100 lures, 100+ reels and lots of miscellaneous catalogs, notes and so on.
One of the more interesting pieces were the lures he bought in London an Paris in 1943 and 1944 while serving in WWII. From his meticulous notes of each lure it is obvious that he was a very knowledgeable collector. Unfortunately I will not be able to keep his entire collection intact. I will keep a very substantial piece of it though as it is added to my collection. I wanted to create this page so that his collection could be viewed in it's entirety and to show some of his various newspaper clippings, etc of his collection. This is dedicated to Earl with a special thanks to Luella for allowing me to be the next care taker of his collection.
Here is a picture of Earl displaying some of his collection at the local library in 1989.
Here is another photo of some of his lures on display.
Here are two articles written in local papers about Earl and his collection.
Here are some of the reels.
