antique bamboo fishing rod

Question

fishing rod   Hi. I have a flat sided, three part Bamboo fly fishing rod. Reel is below the cork. has the prince of wales seal by appointment on the handle. there are brass metal fittings for separate pieces. The rod was made by the hardy bros ltd in Alnwick, England. serial number is E48963. I just was looking for more information on it. there is writing on the rod i cant read just above cork handle. Any information you can give me would be great. thanks.

Answer
Tyler,
What you have there is a Hardy rod. It was made in England or  the UK in 1938. I can tell from the "appointment" text.

I bought on ebay, a cd with pdfs of dates and history of Hardy. I also have copies of the information from the Hardy and Grays Canadian web site that confirms the information on the DVD (they took it down). It is not something I would take into court but my experience has found it to be reliable information. You can find this information at http://www.upon-bamboo-fly-fishing-rods-and-reels.com/collecting-hardy-rods-and- but I warn you it抯 not user friendly.

Price Book:
Antique & Collectible  Fishing Rods: Identification & Value Guide Homel, Dan. 1997 (2nd edition 2000) add about 30% for age of book.

Your rod has some problems - the 3 sections are not and should be the same length. It is missing an extra tip section. It is in poor condition.

E48963 from the sources above says 1938 .  I am guessing it is 9 foot whihc is very common. Nine foot rod models from those years include: L R H Dry Fly and Rogue River. But if it is longer then I am wrong. All this extra wraps every 1.5 to 3 inches indicates a pre 1940s date- they didn't trust their animal hide glue

Values  from Homel range from 60 to $90.

Hardy History:  http://www.articlealley.com/article_634978_32.html
Hardy is still in business in Alnwick, England - on the web:
http://fly.hardyfishing.com/en-gb/home/

You might try the Hardy address and ask the maker, they have been in business for long time and continue.  They are like Orvis here in the states.

Luck,
Mac
Nominations are appreciated