The Most Expensive Anchor

Steve Sanford

Steve Sanford

Well-known member
All~

Two "new" decoy anchors arrived in the mail this week - and now hang from the ceiling in my shop with about 4 dozen others.

The first to arrive was a classic Impulse Buy. After reading and replying to Michael McCord's recent post asking about Herter's ring-type decoy anchors, I did a little surfing on the Interwebs. Lo and behold! Mocking me on eBay was an anchor manufactured by the D. C. Sanford Co. of Bridgeport, CT. I already have 2 ring-type anchors from this foundry - yes, very distant relatives - but had no idea that they had made a mushroom-type. Although I have had thus far paid $0 for any of the anchors in my collection - all have been either "accumulated" over my Dad's and my lifetimes or thoughtful gifts from other gunners - I did not think too long or hard about spending $25 for this artifact. It was only later that I realized that it is probably more than I have ever paid for a boat anchor......


Anchor%20-%20DC%20Sanford%20mushroom%20B_zpsvnqhe1gz.jpg




Anchor%20-%20DC%20Sanford%20mushroom%20closeup%20B_zpsnrfzfi0z.jpg



The second was a swap - with Mr. McCord himself. I mailed him my "extra" Herter's grapple-type and a Herter's small ring-type arrived in my mailbox yesterday. I have just begun to put numbered "key tags" on each anchor so I can organize the back-story on each.



Anchor%20-%20Herters%20Grapple-type%20B_zpsu8rphq6j.jpg




Anchor%20-%20Herters%20Grapple-type%20A_zpsvoa2sxgz.jpg



Anchor%20-%20Herters%20Small%20ring-type%20B_zpsplvkbp0b.jpg







Herters%203%20hanging_zps3ywbxnvr.jpg



All the best,

SJS
 
Looks good, are you wire wheeling them to clean them up? My anchors looks like rust.
I use mine on decoys, you have me thinking I may want to keep them on a shelf?
 
Bill~

The few cast iron ones get treated (lightly) to the wire wheel and the lead ones are massaged with ScotchBrite. I try to balance maintaining patina and removing neglect or scruffiness. There are no doubt purists who will faint dead away knowing I interfered with history....

If that's not bad enough, at least a few so far have been coated with Minwax Furniture Wax (which I understand is now out of vogue with vintage decoys).

I look forward to seeing your collection soon.

SJS
 
In a box with about 100' of mouse chewed decoy lines, I have about a dozen each of the Herters grapple anchors and Herters Ring anchors. The ring anchors belong to with a set of solid cedar red heads sitting in a decoy bay garage at a duck camp on Moss Lake I left sitting on the ground.
 
Good morning, Rick~

When you start your anchor collection, save that chewed-up line. You only need short lengths to hang each anchor - and old line with some "character" looks better than new stuff.

All the best,

SJS
 
I couldn't bring myself to throw it away...good solid braid line. Far better than anything sold today! The decoys are too heavy, with cast Herter's keel weights and solid cedar bodies to use any other place up here, but the line and anchors were what moved me to buy them at the estate (camp) sale when I picked them up at Bass Lake in Pentwater. I salvaged several sections to use as drop lines, with short "dedicated" sections left attached to the anchors.
 
Steve,
When i left Long Island years ago i left my Herters anchors with my gunning partner.
Last year i purchased one grapple type anchor from Ebay to use as just that,a small grapple to recover fishing rods pulled into the water by catfish when left unattended. Also works great to reach decoy lines if the wind shifts,no need to use the boat.
I am sure members can think of other uses for these small portable grapples.
Bill.
 
Steve

That is a neat and growing collection. I hope you include a spark plug, bicycle pedal, and battery terminal. They always made good anchors for me back in high school.
 
Good morning, Bill~.

As it turns out, one of my most grievous Lost Objects is a small grapple made by my Dad - probably in the 1950s when one of his many "second" (or third) jobs included some time in a machine shop. He made a 4-pronged grapple for retrieving decoys. The s/s shank was encased in a cylinder of lead - to give it some heft - and his initials were engraved in the lead. He had it on about 50-feet of light line that coiled onto a 6-inch Bakelite spool.

Sadly, I know exactly where it is. In the fall of 1978, I used it on a small pond in East Moriches (eastern Long Island) to retrieve one of his Wildfowler cork Black Duck stool. (The Wildfowler "factory" was a couple of towns east - in Quogue - at the time.) I had not yet appreciated how slippery is untarred nylon line - and I guess my bowline let go mid-flight. That one-of-a-kind grapple now resides comfortably ensconced in about 12 inches of soft mud that was/is the bottom of the pond. So, absent ground-penetrating radar, it will remain there for Time Immemorial. I sure wish it was hanging from my shop ceiling instead.

All the best,

SJS
 
Good morning, Eric~

Funny you should mention spark plugs....

One of the gunners mentioned in our When the Broadbill was King on Great South Bay DVD is my Dad's life-long friend Charlie Horal. Charlie ran a gas station in East Islip - a Sinclair during my youth. He had one of the big Broadbill rigs and - at least early on - his decoys were a complicated collection with a variety of pedigrees. His anchors followed suit. They ranged from carefully-molded lead rings to lengths of chain and hunks of scrap iron to, yes indeed, spark plugs. His profession brought many his way, of course - and now you have me wondering whether some of his stool were held in place with battery terminals, too.....


9H5Caption-Horal-tender001_zpsa575326a.jpg



Bicycle pedals, on the other hand, are just ridiculous!

All the best,

SJS
 
Years ago, i scrounged up a bunch of lug nuts from 18 wheeler tires. Still have some of them out in the shed, attached to early stool.
 
You know what you say when walk into Steves workshop and look around in wonderment? ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................wait for it........................... ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. "HEAVY MAN!"
 
Good morning, Chip~

DEFINITELY worth waiting for!

(The other thing to say - IF you are taller than 5'10" is:..................DUCK!)

All the best,

SJS
 
I'd like one of each of the grapple sizes and one of the small Heter's rings to add to my collection. I have a couple Victor's to trade?
 
I'm still wishing for a semi-affordable "H" style anchor to come along. Made more muffin tin weights this year as I was too lazy to pull out the router and make my own wood molds for the "H" style.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top