H&I Black Beauty?

[DCHARLES]

I just picked this up in a large lot. The decal puts it in the 1920’s-early 1930’s, probably. However, there is no model marked anywhere. It has distinctive blackened bronze reel seat and ferrules, and black wraps. There was a secondary color of maybe gold or red, but it is mostly faded or gone.
Is the a ‘Black Beauty’, which I have read about, but cannot find an image of, or some other model?
Thanks,
Doug

[barebo]

The only rod that I know of dubbed "Black Beauty" is the Heddon model #17. The H-I rod you've pictured here is not that rod and could be a number of different models in the H-I (Horrocks - Ibbotson) line.

[DCHARLES]

Thanks for responding.
I’ve seen multiple references to an H-I ‘Black Beauty’ from this time period, including period price list, collector ‘value’ lists and even details of the fittings and wrap. It was apparently the only model in their lineup at that time with bronze fittings. However, it also apparently had black wraps, but no secondary color, which this rod has, and it apparently had a celluloid grip, which this obviously doesn’t have.
I have never seen a photo of one, which was why I did the post.

[jeffkn1]

Information of this nature is sometimes found in makers' catalogs. If you go to our Information board and look at the H-I catalog listings, you'll find scans of the 1913 catalog. Page 7 shows a model #2342 that fits your rod pretty closely, if not exactly. Blued or bronzed hardware models were in the minority with H-I. It didn't take long to find it once you combined blued hardware/black celluloid grip/black thread. They use the words "when seen is pronounced by all to be a black beauty", with no caps. Heddon's rod name was capitalized. H-I simply called theirs the 2342, a common format at H-I as well as Montague in those days. Restored properly, it would stand out but you'd need to tint your finish a bit and wrap it all in black. The 2342 will also be seen in the1921-22 catalog, though without the celluloid grip option - cork only, so yours could be earlier or later.

[DCHARLES]

I very much appreciate the input here, but I am scratching my head about the naming of this rod. In the ‘Horrocks-Ibbotson History and Valuation’ post in this forum from 2009, this rod is specifically ID’d as ‘Black Beauty’, capitalized, like their ‘President’, ‘Expert’, etc. Mike Sinclair’s book also refers to this in the same way, not by number.

Did the recognized naming change, or are we looking at different models?

[jeffkn1]

The list from 2009 was copied and pasted from a list assembled by the late Dick Spurr in the 1990's. Mike Sinclair was a very close friend of Dick's and may also have utilized Dick's list as a source for his book, which might explain similarities. When Dick passed away, the owner of this forum received written permission from Dick's widow to copy the list for use here. So there's three sources that all agree somewhat, except the list published in 2009 here lacks some details that the Sinclair book included, i.e. the model number 2342. Your confusion is the result of two people copying the same information, with one of the two leaving out some of the info, and none agreeing 100% with a factory source we can find.

[DCHARLES]

I dug through all the catalogs posted. The original 2342 is shown with ‘gun metal fittings’, with black winding, but by 1932 +/-, there is no mention of the darkened metal. However, there is also a model in the 1920’s, the 2340, with these same ‘gun metal’ fittings and ‘fancy’ winding. I suspect this may be what I have, as mine clearly had a second color in addition to the black.
I very much appreciate the assistance
Doug

[wrong66]

Thanks for responding.
I’ve seen multiple references to an H-I ‘Black Beauty’ from this time period, including period price list, collector ‘value’ lists and even details of the fittings and wrap. It was apparently the only model in their lineup at that time with bronze fittings. However, it also apparently had black wraps, but no secondary color, which this rod has, and it apparently had a celluloid grip, which this obviously doesn’t have.
I have never seen a photo of one, which was why I did the post.

Perhaps you could share this information with the forum's H-I catalog and reference section. You could send them directly to me. Thanks.
Mark

[wrong66]

I very much appreciate the input here, but I am scratching my head about the naming of this rod. In the ‘Horrocks-Ibbotson History and Valuation’ post in this forum from 2009, this rod is specifically ID’d as ‘Black Beauty’, capitalized, like their ‘President’, ‘Expert’, etc. Mike Sinclair’s book also refers to this in the same way, not by number.

Did the recognized naming change, or are we looking at different models?

(Name the rod whatever you want. I doubt you'll get much pushback after 110 years. Heddon made many, many bait casting rods that were only assigned a number, Some, were assigned neither.).