Item PDL
This Item was Sold on 5 January
2016 for $234
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This item is a very large traditional boomerang called "The Sycamore". This is the earliest Herb Smith boomerang I have seen. It was made in 1972. Signed and dated. There are 4 bands of art on the upper surface. The art on the lift arm tip has significantly more detail that the other bands and more art than what I have seen on other Herb Smith boomerangs. The underside has " Hand Carved by Herb A. Smith of Sussex, England ; The Sycamore ; June 1972 " written in black ink. This boomerang is from Herb's personal collection and it was one of his design masters. It was discovered in a hidden box by Herb's widow in 2005, a full decade after his death. This boomerang is in excellent condition. The only negative issue is that part of Herb's signature is worn off on the underside of the lift arm (see photo).
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, a dense and hard composite material that expanded the range of his boomerangs beyond that of his plywood models. Herb continued to make plywood models as sporting boomerangs, even after the introduction of Paxolin models. The Paxolin boomerangs were smaller and usually painted in two colors and with simple line art. 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 a master forger in the prison where he worked to paint a few of his boomerangs. Herb stopped making boomerangs for several years beginning in the late 1980s and began making boomerangs again in 1992, Herb continued to make boomerangs for only a couple additional years. Herb lost his life to bone cancer in 1995. Herb's models are among the finest of collectable boomerangs and the supply continues to diminish. |
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