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 the solid faceplate on the Mk1 version of the 1970s.
That’s not the intriguing part, the packaging is. The plain card boxes are original and support the Hardy Castle and Fly logo representing the high tackle quality of the 1970s.
Both the reel and spare spool boxes are matching and correct but I haven’t seen any others like this, have you?
The box labels and the folded leaflets are printed Made for Harrich International, Industrial Rowe, Gardner. MA, USA. Return addresses for Hardy parts and service suggesting they were a full blown Hardy agent with dual merchandising.
After a quick Google and coming up dry, I thought someone out there may be able to shed some light on this company or have similar boxed examples they can send images of to continue the thread!
In stock at the time of writing, click here for our listing.
