Looking for info on this Hardy 14’ 2”

[mduval]

Estate rod, trying to help them get a value. Three-piece, four tips, two of the same length. Lockfast ferrules, ring guides on butt and mid, snakes on tips. Everything looks original. Varnish in good condition, Butt to mid ferrules need re-glueing, some main and intermediates need to be re-done. W fittings. Bag looks original, no label. Found a 5454 number on the hardware, but can’t see what looks like the usual Hardy serial numbers.

[mduval]

Uploaded a bunch of pictures and none to be seen. Will try to figure that one out.

[mduval]

[Palakona123]

If it has no letter in front it should be from the 1880s. Rods before 1904 had serial numbers made up of only numbers. Rods made in 1890 had serial numbers starting at about 13500, can’t find earlier serial numbers. If you email Hardy they can probably give the year of manufacture. At 14’ it could be a «Cholmondeley - pennel combination rod» but I doubt they produced that rod in the early years. At least it is a combination rod with two fly tops and probably one for trolling and one for spinning. It is very early rod in good restored condition, but these long rods are really only wall hangers so the value is not very high. Would say £200 - 300 at a good day. ( in the UK)

[Palakona123]

It has drop rings, so it is definitely from the 1880s. Guess the first half, one of Hardy’s earliest split cane rods. Would be interesting to hear what Hardy has to say about it if you email them. Nice decorative salmon rod.

[mduval]

Thank you very much for the info. I had a chance to take a second look at the rod and it seems that the two shorter tips likely got shorter from breakage. Both have snake guides and the tiptops are single foot style guides. All other sections have ring guides. I don’t know if the rod came with four tips, or replacement tips were ordered from Hardy, or made by another rod maker who would have used the hardware of the original tips. There is not letter in front of the four-digit serial number, just 5454.

I will email Hardy