December 2, 2002:

In his book "Ice Fishing Spears" published in 1993, Marcel Salive reports that C. Drew was a well-known maker of eel spears at one time.

February 23, 2003:

Talked yesterday to Brian Trujillo (631.728.6516) who is a commercial squid fisherman and an avid collector of fishing spears. He has several C. Drew spears in his collection, some marked C. Drew & Co., others marked C. Drew & Co., Made in USA. These later ones were made in this century, he believes. He buys and sells spears and says a marked C. Drew in good condition is worth a minimum of $250 and up. He has seen some spears (not by Drew) go recently in the $1000 to $1200 range.

Mr. Trujillo notes that Marcel L. Salive, author of the book, "Ice Fishing Spears" (301.762.1909)) is writing a second book on signed/stamped fishing spears that will include a number of examples by C. Drew. The book will give include values.

January 14, 2006:

An analysis of a C. DREW eel spear:

In making an eel spear, the hardest part of the job is the central element; it requires punching the long slot for the tines and key, and forging out and forge welding the socket.

The central element on this Drew eel spear is a malleable iron casting. It's quite a bit clunkier than a forged central element (it needs more beef to it because it's a casting, not a forging) but it solves the time-consuming problems of punching the slot and welding up the socket.

C. Drew had no casting ability, so where did the part come from? My guess would be the Belcher foundry over in Easton, which specialized in this type of thing, but it will take some checking to confirm that. Just goes to show you that there's always something new to learn.