Hurd Caster #1120 H1

Question

Hurd Caster  

Hurd Cster (Bottom)   I have this Hurd Caster Model 85 (serial #1120 H1) fishing rod that was handed down to me by my father, he got it from his father, would like to find out more about it, where and when it was made, who made them and are they valuable. It has a metal rod, grey in color (although most of the paint is worn away), all metal eyelets are intact and in good condition . The reel is in very good working condition and the paint has only a few wear spots and is grey in color and in very good condition. The handle, two reel winding knobs and the bulb shaped connector between the rod and reel are all ivory color, I believe plastic. I have heard that these are hard to find.

Answer
Randy

Your rod & reel combination was made by the Hurd Lock & Manufacturing Company, Detroit Michigan. The combos were first made in 1946. They are pretty good quality rods, but the timing was wrong....as closed and open face spin reels came on the market in the late 40s.


There were two models the Caster and the Super Caster. The Super Caster had wood handle. I believe the Caster model was introduced later in production as a lower cost alternative. (Super Caster was close to $50, Caster was $27).

The Super Caster in wood is the easier of the two to find, they range in $50-175 range (occasionally higher). The values seem to cycle up and down....at one time they brought over $200 pretty easily.

I will do some more checking on value...but your right yours is the scarcer version.

Bob


As a reference, an excellent version of your Hurd Caster with the original carrying case sold for $225 last fall.