FE Thomas Special Bamboo Fly Rod 8’6 3/2 #6/7

Description

A F.E. Thomas Special bamboo fly rod, 8’6″, 3-piece, 2-tip, and built for what feels like a #6 or #7 line. D.F. action. Serial number FE83. The rod weighs 5.0 ounces on my scale. Lawn cast only condition, with no ferrule wrap cracking and no grip soiling whatsoever. There is a bit of varnish worn out at the heavy wire reverse twist snakes and some brassing to the interior top taper, but that’s about it. Blonde cane with brown main wraps and no edge trim. It features 3, 7, 3, 1 signature wraps and three wraps at the male ferrules. Reverse twist snakes as noted. The ferrules are nice and tight. The nickel silver front cork check has the keeper pinned one flat right. The grip is 5 1/2″ long and turned to a medium cigar profile. The grip is super clean with no hand soiling. The down-lock screw lock is aluminum, and the soldered nickel silver pocket cap is die-stamped with F.E. Thomas, Special, Bangor, Me. with the serial number “FE83” stamped on the bottom. The spacer appears to be varnished butternut. The rod bag is blue poplin and retains the original hang tag and $80 price tag (!!!). The aluminum tube is original with Thomas brass hardware, with the “Thomas Rod” shield decal being about 95% intact. A superb example of this model!