I have a friend with a Abercrombie & Fitch fly rod marked Banty 44 -1or or 1oz . Can anyone know the history and length of this rod? It looks like a piece is missing. There is a o-ring on male half of tip section .It won't fit into femalle half and if it did the length of the rod would be 52 inches. thanks Mike Collier

Abercrombie and Fitch or Abe and Imbrie?

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I thought Abercrombie and Fitch was a clothing name.

Steve,
Nowadays it is a clothing store. But they used to sell all sorts of stuff including from what I understand fishing rods. One of my friends has a rowing machine from the 70's that is from A&F. But, sorry Mike, I dont know a thing about flyrods.

Scott Sheets

No ,difflenty Abercrombie & Fitch . I did get the 2 pieces together but the rod was only 52" long Came in a small rod tube attach to smaal tackle box . Inside was a small Hardy reel made in England. On back of the reel read Hardy Reel made for Abercrombie & Fitch.

Don't know the story on the rod. Hope it does have value for your friend.

Do have a nonrelevany opinion on what Ambercrombie and Fitch has become. Ambercrombie & Fitch, imo, is one of the sadder stories in American business. Not from the perspective of the shareholders, they have done well until recently. It's just a shame that they went from one of the premier outfitters in the world, selling gear to the likes of Teddy Roosevelt, to using slimey sex to sell t-shirts to teenagers. It appears that their slimey, slutty calendar finanally brought on a parent backlash.

Out of sheer curiosity I took a look on the web. Abercrombie & Fitch appear to have specialised in fishing & hunting early in the century before getting involved in clothing.

Makes intertesting reading

[salc.wsu.edu]

Stan

way back when aberchrombie and fitch was a sporting goods outfitter. they had fly rods made by several different makers under their own label. some were made by phillipson and others by heddon. there were some others as well. the bantum was a 4'4" fiberglass two piece model for 3/4 line that weighed 1 oz. it may have been made by cross and sewell dunton. this according to "fiberglass
fly rods" by victor r. johnson. 52" would be the correct length. strange that the ferrul does not fit. maybe the wrong section has somehow been matched up. i would think that this would be a fairly rare rod but i am no expert.

The A&F Banty fly rod is circa 1965 and is supposed to be 4'4" long or 52" as yours is. Fiberglass made as a 2 piece with 1 tip. They also apparently sold a Banty spinning rod at 4'4" back then. This all comes out of one of my reference books so that's about all I know.

A&F also sold some nice quality bamboo rods in the early part of the 1900s.

if the ferrul does not fti perhaps someone owned the spinning rod and and the fly rod and mismatched the tips. sad.

as a child, my first shotgun was an exquisite A&F 28 Ga side by side which was later solen. I also remember going in to the A&F store in NYC in the early 60's and looking at the impressive number of fine shotguns, Randall knives, bamboo flyrods, etc. I agreee that its a shame a legend has died, only to be reborn, not as a phoenix, but as a GAP store without a whisper of a connection to its former glory.

I buy most clothes from A and fitch!! cheapest nice clothes around. Wish they still sold other stuff like they used to. There isnt enough sporting specialty shops around anymore. Gander mountain,cabelas and Wal-mart is most of what we have to chose from. We have two very well stocked bait stores in our area that sell just about everything under the sun but your going to pay for it and pay dearly.

If it was a bamboo rod it would be worth some money. On the Hardware of the rod is there a stamp in the Hardware?? The hardy reel sounds like it could be worth more than the rod.. But it all depends who made the Glass rod.. If you can take some pics of rod Ferrules reelsear winding check and decal on rod, I might be able to help. Thanks Dave

I grew up in Applachia. I went to the big city of NY in 1963 and visited A&F. What an experience. Griffith and Howe occupied a whole floor. Holland and Holland, Purdy, and everthing else. Bought a "Russel Canadien" knife. So the A&F name was well established in the richer sections of the sporting world. Even in movies of the time.

Now they market undies, and not very nicely either.

Abercrombie and Fitch the sporting goods store went bust. The Limited (the Gap,ectc.) bought itand then spun it off.

Story in a nutshell at [salc.wsu.edu]

Do you know where I might be able to put a price on a mint banty 44? This is for a friend of mine who may want to insure the rod.
Thanks,
Don Lodwick