Parker-Hawes Fly Rods

[Richard Flanders]

Good stuff. I have a vintage patch remover just like that for my 1842 .69cal Springfield musket. I have the modern version of that same main spring clamp also.

[stumpstalker]

I now have the blessing of my neighbor, and the muzzle-loading items will be donated to the PGCA Silent Auction that will be held at the April annual meeting.

[stumpstalker]

Back to the Parker-Hawes fly rod.

I retrieved my repaired rod yesterday from the Carlson [split cane] Rod Company. Dana Gray, the owner and hands-on rod builder is also a collector of various sporting artifacts. He does not own a Parker-Hawes rod, per se, which brand he holds in high esteem; but he did show me a Parker-Hawes 1 ½ -foot long rod butt section, displayed with a vintage reel mounted on it. It had been owned by Hoagy Carmichael.

I note in the PARKER PAGES, Winter 2010 article, entitled THE PARKER-HAWES ROD (by Bruce Day, Charles Herzog, Mike Kobos, Paul Narlesky, and Louis Parker III) that not all of the issued rods of that partnership had a serial number; however, this rod had one stamped into the metal on the butt.

What should be of interest to any Parker-Hawes rod owner (or would-be one) is that Dana possesses the Parker-Hawes factory records, which he had purchased at auction, and had been owned by Martin J. Keane.