A Thomas and Thomas bamboo fly rod, 8', 2-piece, 2-tip, and built for a #6 line. Serial #2287. 4.8 ounces. An early model with Tom Maxwell's top hat casting man design inked on the shaft. The tips are labeled fast and slow respectively. Fair condition as the slow tip has a replaced tip top and two extensive overwraps between guides. Some wear to the inner snake guides. The main wraps are heavy colored with an edge of brown at the keeper, male ferrules, and tip tops. The cane is oven tempered and has a rough three up node pattern spacing. The varnish is fairly good with a few minor chips missing here and there. The ferrules are swiss style with no collar (a sign of an early model) and they are oxidized with 90% remaining. The grip is 6" long and shaped to a large medium cigar with the bulk of the grip forward. The grip has some erosion issues due to an attempt to clean it. The reel seat is an early downlocking screwlock with the cutout barrel and detached slide seen on the later models but the but is smaller than the slide. The light walnut spacer is mortised and varnished with some extensive scratches and dents. The butt cap is aluminum. The rod could use a general straighten. The rod packs into an olive cloth bag but has no tube.
