fly fishing rod`

Question
I have a fly rod, looks to be bamboo 2 piece lower half with dark maroon tying at eyelets, hexagon design with black tied stiffners about every inch and a half, cork handle came in an O.D green cloth case with a wooden tube containing 2 different length tips marking on the handle section sayes Cleveland #3 1/4 D Jay Harvey can u enlighten me on its dates and value

Thank you,
Gerry

Answer
Hi Gerry,

According to the Michael Sinclair book, "Jay Harvey" was a trade name used by the Edward K. Tryon Company of Philiadelphia.  The rod dates from the 1930s-1950s.  Tryon did not make rods, they had their bamboo rods made by other companies.  Around 1934 the Jay Harvey appeared in their lineup and these rdos were made by Heddon.  There were five grades of Jay Harvey rods that had Heddon equivalents as noted:  Washington (heddon #50), Jefferson (Heddon #35), Jackson (Heddon #20), Cleveland (Heddon #13) and Lincoln (Heddon #10).  These are pretty nice rods.

The Cleveland #3 1/4 D Jay Harvey is a 9'0" rod, three pieces with two tip sections.  The "D" indicates a Dry Fly action for this rod.  Both tips for the rod should be the same length as the mid and butt sections.  If one of your tips is full length, the other has been broken at some point.  If both are short, then both have been broken at some point.  The wrap colors (Red) tend to indicate this rod was made pre-WW II.  After WW II the wrap colors changed and were standardized and generally included tipping wraps.  The red looks maroon under the varnish.

If only one tip is short, the rod could rate as high as Good condition.  If both are short, it will rate Poor-Fair condition. We'll assume it is Good and estimate value as if it is.  In Good condition I would expect the rod to be valued in the $100-$150 range depending on actual condition of the rod.

Thanks,  Joe