Many of us know Vic Johnson Jr. for his
Fiberglass Fly Rods, the definitive guide for the classic glass fanatic.* Johnson and his father, Vic Johnson Sr., wrote their book about the rods they fished and loved. However, when
Fiberglass Fly Rods was published in 1996, the fiberglass market was nearly dead with no hopes for recovery. The huge production glass companies had long since closed shop. Smaller companies like Scott, Orvis, and T&T moved exclusively to graphite. With the exception of low volume production from Lamiglas, Eagle Claw, and the legendary Dennis Franke, glass was gone. Johnson and Johnson's elegy to a dying industry documented the pioneers of the fiberglass fly rod before their stories were lost to time.
That dying industry has revived dramatically since 1996.
To help keep up, Vic Johnson has published a
Price Guide to supplement his
Fiberglass Fly Rods book. His guide documents over 350 actual rod sales, with the rod maker, rod details, rod condition, and final sales price described. There is an example page pictured below (sorry - for the prices you have to buy the booklet
). The
Price Guide covers 65 different rod makers, including both classic
and modern rod builders. The booklet only covers the rods and the prices. At 16 pages long, this booklet contains a ton of useful information in a compact format.
The information in the
Price Guide is an excellent introduction to market prices. While the booklet doesn't list prices for every imaginable rod from every conceivable maker, there is ample information to estimate a reasonable value for most rods we may encounter. eBay antique dealers will hate this booklet - there are no overblown, inflated prices. Instead Johnson's guide reflects what we might find in our own
For Sale section. For anyone new to this market, the
Price Guide is a valuable reality check before you click that Buy-It-Now button. For the experienced buyer, the breadth of price data is remarkable - very, very few buyers have personally tracked this many rod sales for this many different rod brands.
The cost of the
Price Guide is $6.50 plus $1.00 for shipping and handling. An additional $0.50 will be charged to California residents for sales tax. Officially the
Price Guide hit the market yesterday. A couple of specialty booksellers just listed it on their websites. However, the easiest, quickest source is Vic Johnson himself. Johnson is out of the country until September 10, 2014.** Once he returns, Johnson will take orders for his
Price Guide - see his website for contact information (
www.engineeringpathways.com - the
Price Guide is not on the website yet). Johnson recently joined the forum (username
historybuff), so you may also contact him via the forum email function.
Tom
* Johnson has also written
America's Fly Lines (2003),
Fenwick (2005),
America's Fishing Waders (2008), and
Eight Points of Light (2013).
** Additional good news, Vic Johnson is writing a new edition of
Fiberglass Fly Rods with anticipated publication in 2015. His new book covers the modern fiberglass market. Johnson will be doing research for his new book in Europe the next couple of weeks (and hopefully chasing some salmon). Stay tuned for details...