It's the kind of auction every eBay seller dreams of: listing an old fishing lure for $9.99 and getting a winning bid of $31,857.50. The auction (http://tinyurl.com/5x4t) began drawing the attention of eBay users days before the auction was scheduled to end Sunday night, with users posting links to the auction in message boards.
"Oh, how I wish my husband had this one in his collection! Not that he would sell it, of course."
The fishing lure's auction title read simply, "Old Wooden Bronze/Orange Fishing Lure," but four days after posting, the bids had reached into the thousands of dollars, and the seller amended the auction to report that, "according to the information we have received, it is a very rare Heddon wooden lure."
According to http://heddonfishinglures.com, a Michigan beekeeper and newspaper publisher named James Heddon tossed a whittled piece of wood into a pond one afternoon in 1898; "A bass struck the "plug" of wood and an idea was born. Heddon's "Dowagiac Expert" lures appeared on the market in 1902 and the business evolved into an American legend."
Another site, http://www.antiquefishinglures.com/history.htm, reports that James Heddon and his two sons began making lures in Mrs. Heddon's kitchen. "There is a story that James Heddon received a rush order of lures that had to ship the very next morning. Mrs. Heddon put them in her oven to speed up the drying process and the result was that the paint on the back of the lures cracked from the heat of the oven. It is believed that this was the beginning of the Green Fancy Back color."
Bidders competing for the lure included such colorful User IDs as "lurewhore," "ancientmariner" and "bloodhound," but they were all outbid by "raalch" when the auction ended Sunday night.
There are over 7,000 items listed in the Vintage Lures category on eBay, but this may change as word spreads about the high-yield auction. Many sellers began checking their own inventory and alerting friends.
"Wow! I just e-mailed my brother to check his tackle boxes. I think he has some old Haddons that my dad used to have," read one online post.
Of course, no fish tale would be complete without a recounting of the one that got away. "My dad had a bunch of lures from the 20's, with original boxes. Back when he got re-married years ago, his stepson decided he didn't need the boxes, and well, threw them away." Original boxes add significantly to the value of antique lures.
So don't throw away boxes. And next time you find yourself at a yard sale, it just might be worth checking inside tackle boxes. You might find yourself with the catch of the day.
