Herb Smith was one of England's greatest boomerang makers and throwers. Herb started making Birch plywood hooks and traditional boomerangs in the 1960s. He was one of the first suppliers of boomerangs to the Boomerang Man in the early 1970s. Before Al Gerhards started making his S/L hooks, Herb Smith was the only commercial supplier of long distance boomerangs. One of the first boomerangs I ever purchased was a large weighted Sussex Hook with a range of 80+ metres. I became an instant fan. Herb was an early Long Distance World Record holder with a carefully documented throw of 108 yards on 17 June 1972 using a large weighted traditional model called the "Gem". In the 1980s, Herb introduced the world to Paxolin material, a dense and hard composite material that significantly extended the range of his plywood models. Herb continued to make plywood models as Sports boomerangs, even after the introduction of the Paxolin models. The Paxolin boomerangs were smaller and usually painted in two colors and with simple line art banding. The wooden models were often decorated with many colorful bands, flowers, birds and occasionally other themes. Herb did most of his own art work, but while he was a prison guard, he employed the skills of master forgers in the prison where he worked. Herb stopped making boomerangs for several years from the late 1980s until the early 1990s. Then in 1992, Herb got his second wind and he began making Paxolin and finely decorated Birch plywood models again. This continued for only a couple of years. Herb lost his life to bone cancer in 1995. Herb's models have become among the finest of collectable boomerangs and the supply continues to diminish.

This unweighted full size Marathon is the king of all Herb Smith boomerangs. Painted white with purple tips. Signed on the underside and dated 1993. It is in used, but excellent condition. There are no chips or dings, but there is some patina on the lift arm tip from light use. The range is too far for me to test throw because I am left handed and limited to a range of about 80 metres on right handed boomerangs. I would estimate that this boomerang has a range of 80-100 metres in the right hands. A great collectable.