Old Bamboo Rods: a primer for evaluation

March 2009

Now and then I receive enquiries about the value and/or origin of old bamboo rods and olf fishing rods in general. So I created this page for people to start building an opinion on their own since I don't consider myself (yet) a specialist in the field but a simple apprentice.

However, it must be said that apprasing an old bamboo rod is not easy neither for expert professionals since many variable are involved.

Related Pages

• Do you want to know what price is a an antique rod today ?
  
  
• Hiram Leonard
  
  
• Old fishing reels
  
  
• Hoagy Carmichael
  
  
• Collecting Hardy Rods and Reels

A recent (mainly USA oriented) forum* enquiry gave the following listing:

TOP TEN ALL TIME BEST BAMBOO RODS MANUFACTURERs:

1. Payne
2. Granger
3. PH Young
4. Leonard
5. FE Thomas
6. Orvis
7. Heddon
8. Thomas & Thomas
9. RW Summers
10. Edwards

However, the listing above misses some important, if sometimes less productive, bamboo rod makers and companies such as:Hardy brothers, Pezon and Michel, Vincent Marinaro, Everett Garrison, H.S.Pinky Gillum, Powell, Dickerson, Winston, South Bend, Phillipson and E.W. Edwards.

You will be surprised how many of old cane rods are reasonably low priced, ranging from 200 to 400 USD in average (also at important auction houses like Bonhams, I have seen Hardy rods selling for a mere 200 GBP).

However, depending on condition and rarity, it's not unsual to see Payne bamboo rods selling for $2000+. Notoriously, Gillum's, Garrison's and also Dickerson Rods are among the most expensive old bamboo rods on the market because their production was limited.

Hoagy Carmichael showed us, while in Sansepolcro, a Garrison rod in his collection. A very "electric" moment when we could hold it in our hands. (by the way, a Garriosn rod was reportedly sold for $12'000 at an auction!)

Concerning the value of a rod:

Value depends upon:

1. Who made it (accredited authenticy)
2. The condition of the rod
3. Which model / rarity
4. Desirability

Then, generally speaking another two general rules can be defined:

• British old bamboo rods are less valued than US rods
• Shorter rods are more valuable than longer rods

Continue reading about this topic!

A look at vintage fishing tackle objects

Go to the old fishing rods webpage for an overview.

Return from this page about old bamboo rods back to the homepage

Share it with your friends