Rare collector's piece from Herb Smith's personal throwing kit
Herb Smith was one of England's greatest boomerang makers. Herb started making Birch plywood hooks and traditional boomerangs in the 1960s and 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 in the late 1980s and the boomerang world was without one of it's greatest craftsman. Then suddenly in the early 1990s, Herb started making Paxolin and finely decorated Birch plywood models again. This continued until Herb's death in 1995. Herb's models have become among the finest of collectable boomerangs as the supply continues to diminish.
This item is an early Paxolin "U" boomerang, made for longer range sports throwing. This is a model that I have never seen offered for sale before, and four identical boomerangs were made available by Anim Smith for sale on the collectable web page. These four all have different stock numbers, but I am displaying the same graphic for all four, so the one you get might have very slight differences from what you see in the graphic below. This boomerang is signed and dated October 1987. "El Arco" is written in ink on the underside. This boomerang is a terrific flyer with a range of about 60 metres. It takes a powerful throw and is just at the limit of my power range (I'm a lefty thrower). It works best in light to medium winds. This model is such a good flyer. It is a mystery to me as to why it was not marketed commercially. The shape and size is very close to that of the Marathon and the tips are very unusual. They are somewhat lobbed, as though Herb was trying to add weight to the tips without adding lead. It is in new condition and very rare because it was not a standard commercial product.
This boomerang was supplied directly from the estate of Herb A. Smith.
Specifications: Right Handed ; Tip-to-tip Span = 36 cm ; Weight = 63 gm
Price: € 130
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