Guys, I love to see this thread played, but I think each of you have posted Aberdeen reels.
Unlike most tackle merchants in the British Isles, Sharpes of Aberdeen was never a gunsmith, but opened strictly for fishing in 1919.
The first marked reel we've seen is a hand-engraved Dingley, they soon followed with many Redditch reels on their shelves.
But even before WWII, they had already tried their hand at reel making. They were following the model of Farlow, who made a few reels in Croydon, but so many in their catalog (45 models in 1933), most of them came from Redditch, Birmingham, and Alnwick.
Sharpes copied both Young and Dingley so closely, I've been fooled by Aberdeen reels. They fit Young pawls, they use Young's prewar spool run-out adjustment.
Postwar, they were selling many reels to both Milward and Farlow, certainly cutting into Young's traditional market.
In 1958, Farlow purchased Sharpes, and certainly most reels in 1960s Farlow's inventory came from Aberdeen.
My buddy owns this LHW Sapphire, my only ever Lang's purchase - his sweet wife asked me to find this reel and a mint Phillipson Registered for his Christmas present.
Please don't confuse this Sharpes of Aberdeen reel with Young of Redditch.
or these
Here's the Young-made Flycraft, a pattern 15a
I'm still fishing this reel, and someone will be fishing it after me. You don't want to know -
- ok, I'll tell - $57 when a UK Milward's collector was unloading on ebay, and the postwar Sharpes reels took all the heat.