James Leisenring's personal fly tying material and signed book

[Guest Pete]

Greetings, 

I am new to this site and wanted to get opinions and suggestions on items i have in possession.

My grandfather went to an auction back in the 50's in the Lehigh Valley and came back with a fly tying kit and book.

He gave the items to my father as he was getting into fly fishing and fly tying.  The materials were and are in envelopes and some would seem

rare to find and yet i am not certain if they are any good yet to tie with.  Other materials such as silks and such are still in the celophane wrappers.

Book: the book is signed by James Leisenring to his son Truman which leads me to believe all of the items were from the Leisenring family.

 

So my question is what suggetions to do with these items.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Mark Knapp 0]

First, post some pictures of them here. The second thing will make itself known.

[niveker 0]

11 minutes ago, Mark Knapp said:

First, post some pictures of them here. The second thing will make itself known.

From your description, with the exception of the signed book, it sounds like you have one of the millions of cheap 'kits' produced and sold back in that era, with the materials packaged in cellophane wrappers. Clear pictures would definitely help.  

[Flat Rock native 0]

Welcome to the forum, if photos cannot be made, you may want to get the stuff into a reputable fly shop and get more ideas on what to make of this.  There seems to be a piece or two of fly fishing and tying history.....

[Poopdeck 0]

On the surface, it doesn't seem to have any monetary value to speak of. I'd chuck it but that's just me. As for the history, meaningless to me and most. If I could find somebody that appreciates fly fishing history who wanted it, I would give it to them. Otherwise, I'd chuck it. Generally speaking, old fly tying material is crap and most likely deteriorated crap so I'd chuck it.   

[Flat Rock native 0]

2 hours ago, Poopdeck said:

On the surface, it doesn't seem to have any monetary value to speak of. I'd chuck it but that's just me. As for the history, meaningless to me and most. If I could find somebody that appreciates fly fishing history who wanted it, I would give it to them. Otherwise, I'd chuck it. Generally speaking, old fly tying material is crap and most likely deteriorated crap so I'd chuck it.   

pd, your approach may ultimately be the best course, gift or donate to a tying program...  e.g. Joey’s Flyfishing Foundation.

But, we do not know enough yet to jump to this phase...  What if the envelopes contain rare bird feathers for marrying in classic salmon patterns?

[chugbug27 0]

I call mumbo jumbo on you, poopdeck! A shanda fur die goy...

To the OP - flymph.com is a site dedicated to Leisenring & Hidy. I'd start there. There's also a flymph forum and a classic fly tying forum if that gets you nowhere.

Please don't gift it to a tying program or throw it away before reaching out to the flymph folk. 

[chugbug27 0]

13 hours ago, niveker said:

sounds like you have one of the millions of cheap 'kits' produced and sold back in that era

That's the way materials were packaged before plastic bags were born. Can't tell without...

pictures....

(We like pictures)

[Poopdeck 0]

39 minutes ago, Flat Rock native said:

pd, your approach may ultimately be the best course, gift or donate to a tying program...  e.g. Joey’s Flyfishing Foundation.

But, we do not know enough yet to jump to this phase...  What if the envelopes contain rare bird feathers for marrying in classic salmon patterns?

Correct, that's why I said on the surface. Regardless of its monetary value I would still try to give it to somebody who may appreciate that kind of stuff. Otherwise, I would chuck it. Let's wait to see what it really is though. 

23 minutes ago, chugbug27 said:

I call mumbo jumbo on you, poopdeck! A shanda fur die goy...

To the OP - flymph.com is a site dedicated to Leisenring & Hidy. I'd start there. There's also a flymph forum and a classic fly tying forum if that gets you nowhere.

Please don't gift it to a tying program or throw it away before reaching out to the flymph folk. 

Chug, you know I had to look up "A shanda fur die goy." In and by itself I have no idea what you are trying to say. Coupled with Mumbo jumbo I really have no clue what your trying to say. Perhaps it's humorous. Perhaps it's smug. Perhaps you confused the part where I said what I would do with it not what anybody else should do with it. To me, with what we know,  it has no value in money, tying or history so I would give it away if somebody has appreciations for such things. Otherwise out with the old it goes without batting an eye or a second thought. But let's wait to see if we learn more about it. I hope so we have something more to talk about. 

[chugbug27 0]

Jewish humor. No offense intended. Deliberately overstated shock and dismay.

A shanda fer die goy is what my Polish grandmother (Ellis Island ~1910, then Detroit) might say in earnest when her grandson picked his nose at the museum. It means, a shame before the nations of the world. 

[Flat Rock native 0]

1 hour ago, chugbug27 said:

...

To the OP - flymph.com is a site dedicated to Leisenring & Hidy. I'd start there. There's also a flymph forum and a classic fly tying forum if that gets you nowhere.

Please don't gift it to a tying program or throw it away before reaching out to the flymph folk. 

Thanks for giving OP a Leisenring “Lift,” great advice!

[Mark Knapp 0]

5 hours ago, Poopdeck said:

On the surface, it doesn't seem to have any monetary value to speak of. I'd chuck it but that's just me. As for the history, meaningless to me and most. If I could find somebody that appreciates fly fishing history who wanted it, I would give it to them. Otherwise, I'd chuck it. Generally speaking, old fly tying material is crap and most likely deteriorated crap so I'd chuck it.   

To be clear, would you chuck it?😀

You sound a lot like my wife (sorry). I tell her, it costs nothing to save something. Certainly I chuck nothing until I know what I have.

On a whole other subject, once when I was on a ten day float trip my wife hired a dump truck and three big teenagers and together they made three loads to the dump with most of the treasures from my yard. I'm still missing some of that stuff.

[Mark Knapp 0]

2 hours ago, Flat Rock native said:

pd, your approach may ultimately be the best course, gift or donate to a tying program...  e.g. Joey’s Flyfishing Foundation.

But, we do not know enough yet to jump to this phase...  What if the envelopes contain rare bird feathers for marrying in classic salmon patterns?

Yeah! Poop

[Mark Knapp 0]

2 hours ago, chugbug27 said:

I call mumbo jumbo on you, poopdeck! A shanda fur die goy...

To the OP - flymph.com is a site dedicated to Leisenring & Hidy. I'd start there. There's also a flymph forum and a classic fly tying forum if that gets you nowhere.

Please don't gift it to a tying program or throw it away before reaching out to the flymph folk. 

Yeah poop!

[Poopdeck 0]

21 hours ago, chugbug27 said:

Jewish humor. No offense intended. Deliberately overstated shock and dismay.

A shanda fer die goy is what my Polish grandmother (Ellis Island ~1910, then Detroit) might say in earnest when her grandson picked his nose at the museum. It means, a shame before the nations of the world. 

Wheeeeew! I was hoping I didn't bring shame before the nations. That sounds really bad.

20 hours ago, Mark Knapp said:

To be clear, would you chuck it?😀

You sound a lot like my wife (sorry). I tell her, it costs nothing to save something. Certainly I chuck nothing until I know what I have.

On a whole other subject, once when I was on a ten day float trip my wife hired a dump truck and three big teenagers and together they made three loads to the dump with most of the treasures from my yard. I'm still missing some of that stuff.

Yes, to be clear, I would chuck it. Your wife sounds amazing. My wife is the opposite, she likes to save things and I hate piles of her things.  What I do is I sneak one or two items in the trash and slowly throw her stuff away. She never even misses it. My stuff, I get rid of right away before it finds a comfortable home, Especially fishing stuff since it's about all I buy. If I don't use it or if I don't like it it's out. I do have a minor problem with scrap steel but I'm able shut that down when I have more then what I have plans for. It's hard for me to drive past a bed frame or broken shovel in the trash.