Vintage Montague Sunbeam 3 piece

[holensum]

Hi All,

There is a vintage bamboo Montague Sunbeam 3 pc. at auction and I am wondering if it would be worth bidding on. I only have photos and see 1 tip, should be 2 I believe, and it appears the center section may have a little set to it. Comes with the canvas carry case. Cork looks reasonable, dirty and worn but no visible chunks out of it. Ferrules are there and tiptop looks OK. Any ideas on what such a rod would be worth and what a reasonable max bid would be?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

[sgallas2]

I can't help much but the Sunbeam's were inexpensive blue collar rods.9 ft and 8.5 ' .Usually fishes a 6 or 7 wt line. You can probably pick one up in better sounding condition for not much money. Without seeing photos and just from our description I wouldn't bid much on it.
Best
Steve

[holensum]

Thanks Steve, Did a little more research and found that this was a very common and mass produced rod up to 1953.

[gerri]

Don't know that this will help any but about 20 years ago I purchased a Montague Rapidan 9ft/3pc/2tip/ 7wt. The rod is in excellent shape..no sets, all eyes still attached, main ferrule has small crack but all ferrules still pop and are tight, cork handle soiled but whole/ and it came with original canvas bag. Reel seat and other hardware components in good shape. The rod was and still is very fishable. I did my own cleanup on it and then took it to a local guy to double check it for anything I may have missed. I paid $125 for it then. I have the rod hanging on the wall at our cabin.
There is a reproduction Montague catalog available that you can check on the original costs and specs for all their rods. There may also be a short narrative regarding their history. I believe the significance of the Montague rods was that, even though their rods were blue collar, they were considered nice rods and their rod builder (can't remember his name) went on to build rods for Orvis after the Montague plant burned down. I can't remember the story very well but it might be fun to do a little research on the Montagues.
Gerri

[anglerdave]

If you're looking for a Montague, check out Rick's Rods http://www.ricksrods.com/ I bought my 7 1/2' Orvis Battenkill from him and was very pleased with his service. I just looked on his website and he has a handfull of Montagues from $129 - $195.

[sgallas2]

the Sunbeams were the lower end Montagues. Rapidans were a bit more expensive.
Steve