American Museum of Fly Fishing’s Top 50 Objects, Part 5: #10–#6

August 7, 2025 By: American Museum of Fly Fishing Staff

For more than 50 years, the American Museum of Fly Fishing has been preserving the history of fly fishing across two physical locations—in Manchester, Vermont, and Springfield, Missouri—and through their award-winning quarterly journal, The American Fly Fisher. This year, AMFF and MidCurrent have teamed up to count down the 50 most interesting objects in the museum’s permanent collection, which currently includes more than 25,000 objects in total. Each month will feature a variety of historically significant items, with brief descriptions from AMFF curator Jim Schottenham.

That’s Jim in the video above, giving even more in-depth info on each item. Start the video, and then scroll through the images below, allowing Jim to serve as your guide. Click the thumbnail images below each item for more views or related items.

This month, we’ve reached the single digits, counting down objects #10—#6. If you missed the first four installments, be sure to check them out (Part 1: #50—#36, Part 2: #35—#26, Part 3: #25-#16, and Part 4: #15-#11).

#10

Samuel A. Kilbourne (American, 1836-81), “Trout on a Bank”
Oil on canvas (12 x 19¾ inches)
From the Trophy Art Collection donated by Mike Monier (2019.051.083)

An original oil on canvas from Samuel A. Kilbourne, a famous artist who contributed to the 1879 book Game Fishes of the United States, illustrating numerous fish with detailed backgrounds that included natural surroundings.

#9

C. Furman salmon reel, c. 1826
Gift of Mrs. Dwight Partridge (1971.035.002)

The oldest reel of a known date in the AMFF collection, built for Grover Coe Furman in 1826. The double-multiplying reel lacks a click and drag, and it is thought to be a product of the New York tackle trade, active in the 1820s.

#8

L. Leonard Marbleized trout reel, c. 1880
Gift of Elsie Hawes (1974.032.001)

The rare, marbleized version of the 1877 Philbrook & Payne patent, with rights assigned to Hiram Leonard, famed rod maker from Bangor, Maine. This example is stamped “H.L. Leonard – Maker” on the face plate, though examples can also be found with the “Philbrook & Paine – Makers” mark. (Payne’s name is famously mis-spelled on the reels.)

#7

Cedar fly chest with flies formerly owned by Edward Hewitt
Gift of James S. Taylor (1990.021.001)

Filled with examples of his Bi-Visible and Neversink Skater flies, this personally owned and used fly box was the property of Edward Ringwood Hewitt, the multi-talented engineer, author, and angler. In 1918, Hewitt established the Big Bend Club, a fishing camp on 2,700 acres in the Catskills region of New York state, where he could continue his studies related to trout fishing and stream conservation.

#6

Hardy Fairy fly rod formerly owned by Ernest Hemingway, c. 1939
Gift of Prescott A. Tolman (1973.096.001)

Owned and used by the famed Ernest Hemingway while trout fishing in Idaho, this is just one of two rods that remained from the famous author’s collection of trout fishing gear, with the remainder having been lost by the Railway Express Company in 1940. This 8-foot, 6-inch Hardy Fairy rod was described by his son John as Ernest’s favorite. The letter mentioned in the video above is the first thumbnail below.