The Hardy Golden Sprat Devon

Hello, today's antique fishing lure is the Hardy Golden Sprat Devon Minnow.

A couple of days ago I posted information about the Allcocks Nevison minnow. Within that post I mentioned that there is also a Nevison Golden Sprat. Well, the Hardy's lure is supposed to be an artificial representation, of that natural representation that Allcocks were trying to achieve.

Apparently the sprat fish are a readily available, early season, food source for salmon. Hence, these would appear to be suitable, early season lures for the salmon fisherman. Not sure why the lures are generally golden in colour, as the actual fish themselves are silver, but there you go! Thus Hardy's saw the potential for the introduction of a lure to copy the natural food source, and so introduced the featured bait.

There were actually a couple of different versions of this bait. The first model came out in 1925, and ran until about 1951 when the design changed. The second version is pictured above. This latter model ran for about 10 years until 1961. As can be seen above the basic design is fairly simple. The typical minnow shape (made of metal), with a couple of metal or perspex fins and the tail represented by a series of stiff bristles. The whole was then painted either gold or silver. The fins on the sprats featured above are metallic,one fin is imprinted with an R (for right hand spin) and the other fin imprinted with Hardy's England. I don't know if the perspex fins were identified in the same manner. A Hardy's swivel at the front and a single treble hook at the rear completes the lure. You may also find the lures with an extra treble wired the the body of the minnow.

How can you identify between the earlier version, and the later version, I hear you ask?

Well, the earlier lures had eyes and gill covers painted on them. As you can see the above lures are plain. The early lures also had a painted spine. The lures pictured above are fairly oval in shape when looked at in profile. Pictures that I have seen of the earlier lures make them look more round in profile. Maybe that was just a trick of the camera?

These lures were produced in a range of sizes, 2, 2 1/2, 3, 3 1/2 and 4 inches long. These sizes corresponded to weights of 2 1/2, 4 1/2, 7, 10, and 15 drams respectively. They came available with left or right hand spin.

What did they cost? Well back in the 1950s they ranged between 2 shillings and 9 pence, and 4 shillings. If you do an antique fishing lures,or vintage fishing lures search on eBay UK today, you cant find any that have actually sold recently,but there are a few currently on sale for about £20. But they have no bids. Will they sell at that price? I would suggest it is a bit high.

Finally, watch out,there are a few different types of Hardy's sprat lures. They are not all the 'Golden Sprat'(or silver version of the Golden Sprat) as featured above. More about those another day.

That's all for this posting. Next time I will give a brief appraisal of what is selling on eBay in the world of vintage antique fishing lures.

Thanks for reading, bye.