Maxwell Leonard 50-6 Fly Rod 8' 3/2 #6

An excellent H.L. Leonard 50-6 Hunt model, 8', 3-piece, 2-tip, built for a #6 line.  Serial #560 which indicates a 1979 manufacture date. 5.0 oz. Near mint condition.  The rod looks like it has been used less than a half dozen times. The slim cigar grip shows no sign of hand soiling and the semi all-metal seat retains much of the original oxidation. To my taste, this rod has the perfect dry fly action. The owner's name is lettered on the rod shaft and the date of 11/80, which approximates the end of the Tom Maxwell era at Leonard. The cane is flamed with light nodes in a three up pattern. Superb varnish. 50-6 is lettered on the wrap flat as well as the owner's name and date. The serial #560 is lettered on the reverse as well as just above the male ferrules. The step ferrules are oxidized pewter and there is no sigh of brassing. The stripping guide is an oxidized red agate and all guides are wrapped in a plum-colored silk which darkens when soaked in varnish. There are three windaways above the keeper wrap. The grip is a 6" slim cigar. The reel seat is the famous and hard-to-find all-german silver seat with the cutaway exposing the cork underneath.  There is the standard sliding band and cap with the stamp "H.L. Leonard Rod Co, the Rod Maker, Since 1869" in a cartouche. Remarkably, the seat retains 90% of the original oxidation and the cap and ring 100%. I remember how painstaking it was making these seats on a drill press and cross slide as the Leonard shop did not have a milling machine. The rod comes packed in a tan cloth bag and a grey frost coated aluminum tube with brass bottom, collar, and top.