Ernest Hemingway's Tycoon Tackle "Bimini King" Rod

Lot 149

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20 Winter Street
Pembroke, MA 02359
United States

Founded in 2005, Copley Fine Art Auctions is a boutique auction house specializing in antique decoys and American, sporting, and wildlife paintings. Over the course of the last two decades, the firm has set auction records for not only individual decoy makers, but also entire carving regions. Copley...Read more

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Lot Description

Ernest Hemingway's Tycoon Tackle "Bimini King" Rod
Tycoon Tackle
Miami, FL
83 1/4 in. long

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) is one of the preeminent authors of the last century, receiving a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953 for "The Old Man and the Sea" and a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Hemingway's books are taught in high schools and colleges around the world, and he is considered to be one of the most important writers of all time. Hemingway's influence also spread into the world of big game fishing, where he helped found the International Game Fish Association and served as the organization's first vice president. A lifelong fisherman, he always traveled with a rod, casting over the creeks, rivers, and lakes he found during his world travels. In the Atlantic, he spent many years fighting big game fish in Florida waters and the Gulf Stream on his 38-foot boat, "Pilar." He set a world record in 1938 for catching seven marlin in one day, won countless tournaments in the Caribbean, and started the Ernest Hemingway International Billfishing Tournament in Cuba. The tournament began in 1950, with Hemingway himself winning the first three years. Like Zane Grey, his writings in magazines and journals spread tales of sport fishing to millions. No author could write an angling novel like "The Old Man and the Sea" without battling monster fish, fending off sharks, and drifting through the vast and unforgiving sea.

This exceedingly rare, and likely unique, Tycoon Tackle "Bimini King" was specially made for Ernest Hemingway. This big game rod is one of the most important Hemingway items to ever come to market. The rod is monogrammed "E. Hemingway" in India ink under the original varnish, which was only done for special clients or on custom orders. Hemingway was a friend and customer of Frank O'Brien, the founder of Tycoon Tackle, and the author recommended "Bimini King" rods for catching marlin "from 250 to over 1000 pounds." Hemingway favored these rods, writing in "Holiday" magazine's July 1949 publication that "The best [rods] I have found, outside of the old Hardy Hickory-Palakona bamboo #5, are those made by Frank O'Brien of Tycoon Tackle, Inc. His rods are incomparably the best I know made today." He was photographed many times using these rods, often with a Hardy Zane Grey reel, as he fought big billfish on "Pilar." The rod is made of a five-strip laminate, which uses three different types of wood and provides superior strength and flexibility. This rod retains all its original hardware, including its lower chrome-plated rolling guide and tip. A letter from Tycoon Tackle President Tim O'Brien, son of Tycoon Tackle founder Frank O'Brien, certifies that the rod "does not appear to have been modified, changed, or tampered with in any manner." This exact rod was featured in the IGFA's 1999 exhibition "Papa, A Tribute to Ernest Hemingway," at their museum in Diana Beach, Florida, which celebrated the centennial of the author's birth.

This "Bimini King" was purchased in 1997 from the renowned Kleiser's Sport Shop in West Palm Beach, Florida. Opening in 1929, Kleiser's catered to the affluent sportsmen of South Florida, selling the finest fishing and sporting equipment available. They supplied sportsmen with Tycoon Tackle rods, Kovalovsky reels, hunting gear, and high-end firearms. The shop's founder, Bob Kleiser, was a personal friend of Hemingway's and went on trips with the leading fishermen of the time around the Atlantic. This rod bears a "Bob Kleiser's Sport Shop" label below the first guide.
In good original condition with some wear, including some oxidation to metal.
Provenance: Kleiser's Sport Shop, West Palm Beach, Florida
Private Collection, Florida, acquired from the above in 1997
Literature: Ernest Hemingway, "The Great Blue River," Holiday, July, 1949, p. 97.

Exhibited: Diana Beach, Florida, "Papa, A Tribute to Ernest Hemingway," International Game Fish Association, IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum, July 1999-January 2000.

Condition

Please refer to the description; if you have questions, email ben@copleyart.com.
Shipping Info
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