An Unidentified Ogden Smith?

[Silfield]

I recently had my eye on a rod on flea bay that was poorly described but looked like something that could potentially be a willing addition to the project list. The only issue was that it came with another couple of rods in a bundle but I thought that they could be used for spares.
I won the auction for less than £30.00 which I was more than happy with. When the rods arrived I was pleasantly surprised to find that the rod I had initially been interested in appeared to be unused, a Sealey Strikerite, so all good. One of the others was a tatty Spanish reed and split cane roach rod (edit. Hillwards Avon Rex) that is in good structural condition but will need of a total overhaul so will go in the stash for later.
The third, which I had hoped was going to be interesting underneath the layers of old varnish and dodgy whipping, is marked J Ogden Smith on the butt cap. It looks like it could be a three piece spinning rod? approx 9'3" long when assembled, a very steely action and in rather good condition apart from a delaminated tip, which hopefully has now been sorted.
I have gone through all the posts on here trying to identify it and noted that there is a chance that it could be an Ogden Smith but using obsolete furniture from the J Ogden days?
Does anyone have any idea as to its identity please?







There maybe an inch missing off the tip and there is a funky mixture of agate rings throughout the rod but it looks like it could have potential.

[Silfield]

After spending the last 6 months trying to identify this Ogden Smith rod without any success at all I have decided to give it a new lease of life but it is really bugging me as to what it could be.
Are there any experts on the forum that could lead me in the right direction as to a source of information on Ogden Smith please.
I have stripped, cleaned, straightened and glued where necessary and have taped the rings (low bridge) on prior to whipping but would love to be able to write the rod details on the blank prior to finishing. The whippings were all fairly thick and black and I assume that the inters and those on the ferrules were original.
Any pearls of wisdom would be appreciated.

[Tonkin Wand]

Hi Silfield, I will try to help and confuse so bare with me please.Ogden Smith (s) claimed to be a long established retailer going back to the 18th century! It was very common for persons in late Victorian society to use their mothers maiden names as an addition to their own ,with or without a hypone.Smith and Smiths all get muddled up with this company,I am unsure whether the "s " shows a plural of Smith or possession......J. Ogden Smith. I cannot find. There was a wife,Jean Ogden Smith but I have ruled her out as the name on your rod.The Long established London proprietor was WALTER SYDNEY OGDEN SMITH head of numerous outlets until his death.A very successful man indeed.His father was one Henry Smith born Derbyshire, a tackle maker, employing labour, presumably successful , worked for years until his death in Cheltenham Glos.The line go back further but not in London. A James Ogden was in business at 19 Leicester Sq., london trading as OGDEN AND SCOTFIELD at about the period of your rods origins.So confused.... I am. just say they were all inter related and used association and family as spin in trade. Comments please any one else most welcomed Tony

[Silfield]

Thanks for all the information Tony, much appreciated. Confusing it is!
Not wanting to mislabel the rod in any way, I think I might leave the cane blank unless I somehow stumble onto a definitive identity.
The exact but cap and winding cheek I have seen on an Ogden Smith fly rod but this is far too thick for any flies I have ever tried to cast with so that led me to believe that its origins were as a spinning rod.
I should have it finished in time for the close season

[Silfield]

I have finally managed to get the rod finished, albeit for a couple more coats of varnish. So far it has had only one coat of satin International yacht varnish which has turned out fairly dull-I will give it another couple of coats and then see if needs brightening up a bit.
I still have not been able to identify the rod but shall be happy to use it the way it is and for the time being it will have to remain a mystery.


Apologies for the quality of the pics-I am trying out the computers in built photo resizing software with less than pleasing results so far!

[Jeremy Croxall]

Looking really good, nice vibrant whipping colours. I have had variable results with satin varnish, it may be better to use gloss and take the sheen back with very fine wire wool and wax when the varnish has hardened off.
I have also used brasso and "polished off" the high gloss finish. I intend to do this with a recent refurb just to loose that "just varnished" look.
In any event you have a lovely looking rod there, one to be proud of

[Pallenpool]

That looks very good indeed Ian - whipping colours look great
and what a wonderful colour the rod has - very nice Sir!

[Dom Andrew]

It looks very nice, and yes, lovely colour.

Dom.

[Silfield]

Thank you Jeremy for the advice, I will take it on board and give it a try. Do you know if there would be any compatability issues with applying a water based gloss polyurethane varnish over the existing solvent based satin, once it has hardened off properly?
Peter, thank you for your kind words-I was quite pleased with the thread colour and the contrast with the darker cane but in reality it was a bit of a lucky break! I was furloughed from work a few weeks ago and because of the situation I couldn't justify buying any more thread, varnish etc and had to make use of what I had lying about.
Thanks Dom

[Marki Mark]

did hear a guy in the US collected OS catalogs.. a ref on the classicflyrodforum.com , iam also trying to find a reference to a OS item, found sellers of catalogs on the web very helpful in trying to identify if an item is in theirs, narrowed my item down to 1870-1920 but yet to see a listing pic....if you find the guy appreciate any contact. good luck