P & S Ball Bearing Bait Company

The P & S Ball Bearing Bait Company was located in Whitehall, New York. The company made lures from approximately 1889 to about 1913, all of which were spinners or flies. Most of the flies also had spinners on them.

P&S baits featured unusual spinner designs as evidenced by both of the props on the these two lures. The spinners were marked by the company so their baits are identifiable by the P&S initials. In almost all cases, the spinner hooks were dressed with feathers or hair.

Names for the two lures shown are not known. The box swivel on the left spinner dates this lure as being made around 1910. It is believed that the other lure was also made about that time. It is noteworthy to point out that the red/white lure is made of plastic!

The owner of these lures valued the red spinner at $30 and the plastic lure at $50-$60.  (Note:  these price estimates are from the original 1996 article.)

Unknowns?

The white fly has a wooden body, approximately 1/2" in diameter, with two grooves which run completely around the body. It has painted red eyes with black centers.

The gold fly is made of a semi-transparent plastic material. The eyes are in the plastic and are lighter in color than the body color with black centers.

The 'black' fly is actually very deep green and also made of a plastic-like material which appears to be wrapped around a wooden body. The eyes are in the material and are gold with black centers.

Unknown Update: A reader writes that the flies may have been made by a Connecticut company, the owner of which was Jim Harvey; the company and owner's name may be the same.

If you have any further information on any of the items displayed on this page which you'd like to share, please send your comments to me and I'll update the page accordingly. Contributions of interesting items and/or unknowns are encouraged.

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