Thomas, F.E. - 'Special' 9' 3/2 Bamboo Rod

For sale here is an early 9' 3-piece / 2-tip F.E. Thomas bamboo rod. Medium toned cane with blued hardware. Brown wraps with intermediates throughout. Ferrules fit nicely, although one tip ferrule could do with a bit of wax. The rod is in fishable but has some issues. The butt ferrule has a small crack above the serration, and the snake guide near the ferrule is a replacement (standard twist vs English twist for the rest of the rod). The stripping guide on the butt is rewrapped, and there are invisible wraps on the mid (2nd guide down from the female ferrule), and another on one of the tips near the tip top. The varnish isn't terribly soft, but has some bag burn and small chips throughout. It looks like it received an overcoat many decades ago. The sections are mostly straight, although both tips have slight sets. The winding check has an integrated hook keeper, and the rod is fitted with a skeleton cork grip and reel seat. Pocketed butt cap is stamped "FE Thomas - Special - Bangor, ME" with "o" on the base. It feels like it would handle a 7wt. The rod packs into the original foldover bag with a brass capped bamboo tip tube (split in the top half). The bag has "Mahogany" written in pen by a previous owner. The hardware on this rod is blued, but my guess is that this rod pre-dates the creation of the FET Mahogany grade. Impossible to say without a ledger entry or original hang tag. Regardless of the specific grade, this is an early FET 9 footer that could be used as-is, or it could be a candidate for restoration down the line.