A Right Pair

Found on Friday at an auction house in the county known as Gloucestershire, a 2 1/4 inch Brass Platewind Trout Reel engraved J. Bernard & Son - Makers - 4 Church Place, Piccadilly, London.  It is almost identical to one that another dealer found several years ago and kindly sold to me.  Church Place is still in existence and next to it on a Tuesday stands a small antiques market in the courtyard of Sir Christopher Wren's 1684 St. James Church at which I stalled out a few years ago with the aid of a suitcase.  A penniless day was cheered by the sound of the choir practising and a daydream of what the interior of Bernard's shop and workshop would have been like when these reels were produced in the 19th century.