A small handful of custom-made 10/0 size reels and one 14/0 size reel were made for Shakespeare executives for big game shark fishing off the coast of Africa. These scarce, larger big game reels are very desirable and highly coveted by collectors. Co. were the Standard reel and the Style “C” twin screw level wind reel.
This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. William Shakespeare reels were made by one of the earliest companies of the nowclassic reel makers and was founded by William Shakespeare, Jr. in 1897. On October 5, 1897, William Shakespeare, Jr. was granted his first patent for his now famous reel with a twin worm gear level winding mechanism.
The twin screw reel was shown in the 1907 catalog as being offered in the Style “A” and Style “B”. The “A” was German silver and the “B” was nickel plated brass. Also listed in this catalog were the Universal, Favorite, Alamo, Service, Marquette, Standard and German silver Professional. Beginning in 1910, the model number on the bottom of the reel foot indicated the year the reel was made. The marking then went to a dual letter date code which signified the year made.
This patent was followed in the next few years by a number of patents improving features on his reels. In 1903, Shakespeare and Walter Marhoff co-patented the thumb wheel rim click. They would work together until Marhoff shakespeare reels received his reel patent in 1907 and assigned it to his own company, The Marhoff Reel Co. The reel was eventually incorporated into The Shakespeare line. In 1915 the company name was changed to the Shakespeare Company.
Shakespeare continued to make a wide range of fishing reels, rods, lures and tackle for many years. They were also involved in the World War II effort and made bomb sights. The Autocrat was produced in a 4/0 and 6/0 size and came in a small suitcase style case with instructions and tools.