The Earliest Known Dickerson: 1931 8'6" Three Piece

The tube is commercially made rather than Dickerson’s later in-house brass cap and collar tube.  The cap and collar are nickel plated brass with the nickel mostly worn away.  An old embossed letter plastic label with the original owners initials, J.O.L. is affixed to the top of the cap.  There is a strong possibility the tube is original to the rod, however, we would need to see a couple of rods from the same period to confirm. The original bag is also unique in that it does not have the fold-over tie down flap Dickerson bags were known for.  There is a small write-up on the bag in the Rod Bags & Tubes  section of this site.  Other unique features of the rod include the grip shape and early grip check. 

This rod is a treasure now preserved as an outstanding example representing Dickerson’s very earliest work. It would have been hand planed by Dickerson on his earliest planing jig; what appears to be an excruciating to use jig for which the strips had to be pulled through by hand.

Thank you for visiting the site. I would be interested in hearing of other pre-1935 Dickerson rods. 

-Marc Bourgea, Oct, 2022