Category Archives: Hardy

Bannister, Barder, Hardy, Moran and Venables

With a heading like this it’s not surprising we had immediate interest in a fabulous rod collection bought by TT this week. You may remember a couple of weeks ago we bought 550 cane rods and bamboo poles in one collection. Any sane person would think that’s it for a while, but NO! The busier […]

Hardy Hydra Fly reel for Harrich International, USA

Nothing odd here, just a mid-1980s Hardy Hydra light weight fly reel with its spare spool. A budget reel passed over by many anglers in favour of the Marquis or LRH models. It’s not unusual to see reel and spare spool combos. This is the later Mk2 version with the ventilated spool as opposed to […]

Hardy The No. 4 Overhead Palakona rod

This is a 5’ two-piece Hardy Palakona split cane spinning rod, hand-built in Alnwick in 1947. Initially I struggled to find any reference to it at all. Then by luck, in a 1951 price list, it appears in the West Country Spinning rod range but sadly with no images. Numbered 0-4 plus a Steel Centre […]

The Hardy Creative Team-The Zane Connection

In the last few days there has been quite a bit of chat at Thomas Turner about Zane Grey, Hardy and the Zane rods and reels that the company has made over the years. I’m not in a position to comment with any authority on the nuts and bolts of the design and the manufacture […]

Hardy Conquest Centre Pin Reel

The Hardy Conquest centre pin was a revered pin in the 1950s and with the appearance of the new Hardy Marksman rod range in the early 2000s, it was decided to reinvent the reel for the new century. Charlie Norris ( Hardy reel designer)  and Stevie Harper (composites engineer) were put on the case and […]

Hardy Fibatube self-assembly rods 1970-80

Like a Tudor watch, would you always be explaining it’s made in the same factory as Rolex? Well, not really because in the 70s Hardy recognised the demand for self-build rods. I know this coz I built one, badly! Jim (James Leighton Hardy) was instrumental in setting up the Fibatube factory in Willoburn, Alnwick. This move […]

Hardy Joint Lubricator or “Lipstick”

Always popular, this Hardy little gadget is easily missed at the bottom of a tackle box or bag. The Joint Lubricator and Container was an entirely new idea in the 1930’s. Measuring 1-3/4” tall the outer casing is stamped”Hardy Bros. Makers Alnwick”. It was produced in both brass and nickel materials. Pull off the top […]

Hardy The Jet Midge fly rod for #3-1/2 line?

This lovely little rare rod came into us this week. The Hardy Jet Midge 6’3” had a very short production run, appearing in the 1974 catalogue in text only, no images. It disappeared along with the other Jet rods from the catalogues in 1975 to become the Fibalite series. I’m sure many of the Jet […]

Farlow V Hardy in the Perfect competition

There has historically been a professional rivalry between Farlow and Hardy. Retailing a stone’s throw away from each other in London the competition for product sales must have been at times intense. I have just been browsing through one of our many Farlow catalogues, the 1840-1940 Centenary Edition. It struck me that the brand name […]