Item TB500
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The current price is listed on the Collectable Boomerangs link. Instructions for ordering can be found on the How to Order web page. |
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This is a very early longer range sport boomerang made out of 3.2 mm Paxolin in the mid 1980s. It is not signed or dated, but it does have the HAS initials scratched on the lower surface of the dingle arm. The lift arm tip has a simple decoupage strip glued to the surface. I purchased this boomerang directly from Herb's widow, Anim. It was part of Herb's personal collection. There was a label on it marked as "Ninja". The shape resembles a large Marathon, but with wider tips that act as weights. Later versions of the Ninja had a more bulbous lift arm tip, similar to Volker Behrens' Challenger III. This boomerang is in mint condition and it might have been one of Herb's masters.
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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