Mordex Popular De Lux by Black Seal

[Galician]

A few months ago I found this little 11' Rod amongst others I own, without looking at the details on the butt I gave it a good clean, completed any repairs needed (not many) and gave it a coat of varnish. It turned out very nice indeed. I have only just noted the detail on the butt which comprises a very badly damaged Black Seal transfer and very nicely written by hand in black ink Mordex Popular De Lux. Its a delightful little rod and will be ideal for using a float on river or canal. Now heres the good bit, I have never heard of this rod nor can I find any details about it. Even tried Google, nothing.
I just hope the collective minds of this forum can help me with any detail on its history etc.
Galician

[Stathamender]

I have one of these from The Bay a few years back which had been completely restored. Nice rod, excellent for general float fishing.

Some general info on Mordex that I got from some basic research a few years back: Mordex appears to have started out as a precision engineering company in Sheffield in the mid 50's before going into making centrepin reels then branching out into general tackle including rods of all sorts: hollow cane with split top joints, all split cane float rods (the Popular and the De Luxe), solid fibre glass pike and spinning rods; hollow glass match rods with metal ferrules (like the Allcock's 'Billy Lane'), tubular steel rods very similar to the Taperflash by Accles and Pollock (they may have bought up the last of A&P's stock when they decided to stop making the rods and then rebadged them as their own) and finally spigot glass rods. They also put out such things as shot and hook lengths. It's possible that the reels, which were 'budget' versions of things like the Aerial (Merlin) and G&Y reels whose names all began with 'M', were the only thing Mordex actually made themselves. They were notable for their decal badges. All the rest of the stuff they put out was rebadged, although they may have just got the blanks in for rods (I believe they used some from Sportex also based in Sheffield) and finished them off themselves. As you might expect Mordex tackle turns up regularly at Sheffield auctions, car boots and junk shops. Back in the early 60s Sheffield Anglers' Society had 40,000 members, almost as many as Birmingham, so they weren't short of customers.

Their badge was actually Royle Seal, Black Seal was a different company from near London, although the two logos are simialr. They might have tried to use Royal Seal initially but would not have been allowed to register it as a trademark (as it would imply Royal Approval). Their motto 'Flectes non frangas' was a pun on a Latin motto Frangas non flectes often taken to apply to the law meaning (more or less) 'I can be broken but not bent' whereas the reversal on Mordex rods means, of course, that the rods would bend but not break.

Fairly likely that someone at the firm would have a degree in engineering (which then as now Sheffield University specialised in). In the 40s and 50s many universities, not just the Oxbridge ones, had O Level Latin as an entrance requirement for Arts degrees at least (a practice that continued until the late 60s at some) and so in grammar schools of the time Latin was routinely taught pre-sixth form to all those thought capable of university entrance, it was only when they came to sixth form that people chose arts or science stream (I chose something else). So not at all unlikely that an engineer back then might know Latin. The company was always something of an oddity.

Mordex started out, AFAIK, at a site on Petre St in Attercliffe now occupied by the English Pewter Company then moved in the late 50s to share premises with Hill Brothers in the W W Laycock Silversmiths Works (not to be confused with Laycock Engineering) near Sheffield Station, here's what it looked like 12 years ago before partial demolition and transformation into student housing https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3758637 ... 312!8i6656 and here's what a bunch of 'urban explorers' found before then https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/w ... 014.90272/. They then moved in 1968 to a building on Andrew St in an area called the Wicker which was, and still is, home to a lot of small scale back street engineering enterprises, with a subsidiary works on Snow Hill nearby. Finally in 1985 they're back on Andrew Street in a building named 'Royle Seal House' (which may well have been their original home there renamed) and they appear to have gone out of business in the late 80s (a lot of companies did) with Andrew St being subsequently demolished as part of a ring road development called 'Derek Dooley Way'.

[Liphook]

Excellent history lesson Stathamender, very interesting Can you tell us more about Sportex by any chance? I'd love to hear more about them and their production timeline

[Galician]

Hi Stathamender
Thank you for all the backround history of Mordex, it seems to have suffered the fate of so many companies of this time, both the manufacturer and retailer. I started my fishing in the early 50's and there were many companies then offering angling equipment and bait with their major retail offer, could be almost anything, I even whent to my local butcher get my sausage rusk to make my groundbait. Then specialist angling retailers began to appear, this was one of the major factors in driving our sport further, it was even said more went angling on the weekend than watched football. This was in many respects the begining of the time of plenty and its consequences. I'll stop here but just say now if something looks a little untidy or there is a minor defect we do not repair it but just throw it away and buy a replacement: what the hell is up with us. Where have all the skilled individuals gone?
I'm gone.
David

[Nobby]

A nice precis of Mordex, Iain. I too had to do a few years of Latin at grammar school...sadly taught by a Pole, so I still to this day say the V's and W's wrong.....


Black Seal was R G Edwards of Carshalton and Brixton, who later changed, maybe because of Mordex, to a black wax seal:





Here's a Mordex transfer

[Stathamender]

Thanks Nobby. I've amended the final paragraph slightly having gone back to my original notes rather than relying on memory. I've posted several times on various Sheffield forums asking for any memories/knowledge people might have of Mordex but with no results so far.