A rare item this. A Milwards Bamboo Pole - Thames style fishing Pole. Five sections, max length of 48" per section, all the pieces fit inside the others to leave 2 outer sections which have wood original stoppers in the brass ferrules, Milwards Bartleet iron Arm Trade mark transfer to butt section, close whipped tip with drop ring. Dating circa 1900 to 1920, in makers original cloth bag

A Milwards Featherlite 12ft Match Rod. This rod is over 50 years old and has never been used! The butt is made of Spanish reed, The mid section is Spanish reed spliced with Tonkin cane, and the tip is twin taper split cane. It even has a small gold transfer on the tip stating “Twin taper tip”. The butt ring is lined with smoky white agate and the tip ring has brown agate in it. The intermediate rings are all black japanned standoff rings. The whole lot is whipped on with black silk, giving a totally stunning appearance. The ferrules are protected by turned wood/cork stoppers. It comes in its original bag which is un-named.

A Milwards Featherlite cane fishing rod. This rod has three sections. This rod is in good condition considering it's age. It is 12ft long. The bottom two sections are cane or bamboo and the top section is split cane. Also on the bottom section it has a serial no. Y352.A.12' All the eyes and whipping are in good condition. It has a full cork butt. Complete with a rod bag.

A Milwards Floatcraft 12 foot rood. This is a fine original Milwards Floatcraft in truly original condition. Excellent order throughout, high quality Milwards silver & agate butt & tip rings, maroon silk , 'solid' logo, alloy fittings, a lovely rod at the useful 12foot length. Bronzed Milwards rings, whole cane butt section with spliced built cane, in tonkin mid. A strong enough rod to handle most modern river scenarios' ideally suited to long trotting. With rod bag of the period.

Milwards Split Cane 10' 6" 3 piece Float master Rod. In very good condition, possibly unused, with no wear to eyes, whipping or cork handle. Milwards Floatmaster stamp to first section and Milwards stamp to butt. Complete with original green cloth case in good condition.

Milwards Floatmaster made in England. It has its original cloth bag with two brass stoppers still attached with cord, these go in to ferrules when stored . It has a cork handle with reel support and just above on base of rod has the number 84017 and full makers stamp. The length is 10' 6''.

A Milwards Floatrover Rod. re-furbished to 'as good as new', this is an excellent Milwards Floatrover, scarlet and red Elephant brand silk, lined butt and tip rings, excellent all round condition and rarely seen 'original' new 'old stock' "bronzed" high bells life intermediate rings from Redditch. Supplied in it's original rod bag. An excellent all round float and 'bottom fishing'.......all built cane and 11' in length.

A very nice Milwards 9ft #6 fly rod. The rod is named but can not be easily read. The rings are whipped in black and gold mottled silk. Three sections. Original makers bag. The rod is all original, and straight, with no cracks to the cane , with no rust marks to rings, some are still showing varnish the tip ring and ferrule whippings have come lose at some time and have been re-varnished. The rod has seen very little use hence it is still in a very good condition.

Milwards split cane trout fly rod 3pc 9 1/2 foot. This is a lovely example of the Milwards style, with all whippings present and original. Intermediate whippings range from every 1/2" at the butt to every 1/4" at each of the tips! Both tips correct and undamaged, no repairs. Lined tip and butt rings. Brass fittings all good with only a little of the blue finish worn on the reel fittings. Original finish complete to all other fittings (butt, handle collar, ferrules) and are great - as seen in the photos. Butt stamped Milwards and "Made in Britain" to reverse.

Another very rare item from Milwards - The Serviceman Smuggler Rod. In its original bag etc, this rod is unused as new condition all original not a refurbishment item period, this is what Milwards say about this rod from the 1964 catalogue, the serviceman, this suitcase rod which packs into 27 inch, is designed for any keen fisherman who wants to pack a rod conveniently in his kit, making up into a 9ft. five piece fly rod, with a better action than many - two and three piece rods, and a 7ft four piece stiffish spinning and g,p, rod, it has been the object of much praise from travellers all over the world, specification; masrerseal protection, universal sliding winch fittings, cork handle with rubber button, suction serrated joints, aquite butt and end rings, stainless steel round bridge intermediate rings, stud fastener secured bag with makers details, this rod has all its stoppers all as new a very rare rod.

Milwards Specialist 3 piece split cane fly fishing rod with extra top section and original cloth bag. The rod has three sections plus extra/spare top section and measures approx 3.9 m in length. The rod joints are brass and steel and are spike fitting. The rod is in very good condition, the varnish, rings, eyes, bindings and split cane are in very good condition. The handle is cork with chromed metal butt section marked XV. The cork is in good order some slight wear through usage. The rod has written "Angling Services London. A specialist Rod By Milward". The cloth bag is original, and has the Milward specialist logo. One of the cloth ties is a little worn. A superb vintage rod and in lovely condition.

The SPINVERSA by Milwards. 8ft 9 inches. Beautiful spinning rod (but I suppose it could be used for stalking or even margin fishing), this rod was designed in the 1950s by Milwards for their executives’ own use in casting small baits weighing but a few grams upstream for salmon, using the company’s Spinover multiplier reel. To obtain the action required for that type of work, and in fact the perfect action (a Milwards claim, not mine), the taper of the handle was reversed (hence the name that was to become the Versa range of rods). That is to say, instead of the cane being made progressively thicker, or parallel under the cork, on the Spinversa it is thinner at the butt cap than it is just above the handle. The action thus obtained is a perfect delight, exclaims the late 1950s catalogues (as shown). The butt has a great degree of flex and a long cast can be made with the laziest of swings. Although this rod was designed for use with the Spinover multiplying reel, Milwards said they knew anglers who liked a rod which worked down into the handle and who used the Spinversa with either a fixed spool or a centre pin reel. The specification: tempered Hexacane, ‘Gripmaster’ knurled ferrules (for ease of pulling apart) and Gripmaster locking reel fittings. Agate intermediates and end rings. A long, lovely tapered 29 inch handle (to provide balance), whipped in speckled gold and black whippings, with traditional copper whipping as used by many rod builders to lower side of butt ring (often used by Chapmans on its rods and seen on many higher grade rods), a classic Milwards or Aspindale Jasper whip colour. And supplied in original zip fastener secured press-studded bag. Today it is worth considerably more than the £12 15 shillings of 1959.

A Milwards SWIMVERSA 12 foot whole and built cane rod. The cane is in excellent condition throughout with no splits, scrapes, dings or signs of water staining. The ferrules are tight and secure with the bronze finish virtually unmarked. The whippings are also well sealed and secure. The original butt and end rings are in good condition, however one of the intermediate rings is missing and, realistically, the rest need replacing. All markings and transfers including “All England Winner 1963” and "Twin Taper Tip" are clean and intact. The rod comes with its own original bag - a bit grubby and could use a stitch at the closed end. The stoppers and original swing-ticket are attached to the bag. This is one of the classic cane coarse rods. It rod was designed by Terry Thomas and was fearsomely expensive to produce because of the compound tapers in both the whole cane and built cane sections; it also features a reverse taper hollow-built butt section underneath the cork. The Swimversa is a lovely rod to use and was a favourite with the late Bernard Venables.

A Milwards SWIMVERSA. These 12 foot rods cost Milwards a fortune to produce due to the revolutionary reverse taper in the cane under the handle and the dual / twin taper in the top section. A favourite of Bernard Venables, indeed Edward Barder produced a similar limited edition as the CRAFTVERSA and I have the number 3 signed by BV which I often use to good effect having caught Barbel on it. The Millwards rod is of unusual construction having split cane reverse taper butt, whole cane mid section with the top foot of split cane then the tip with a double taper. It even has the Milwards name etched on the alloy butt cap. The result of all this is a rod which is delightfully accurate when casting a float. This example was a tatty one which I had restored. It has been fitted with new old stock intermediate rings using original tip and butt rings. This was done with the now impossible to obtain original Black and Red Jasper Elephant silk. This rod is unused since restoration and comes with its original poppered bag. The only faults with the rod are aesthetic in that it has some staining where the original rings had rusted. This of course does not effect the rods fish catching ability. The rod was produced in small quantities but managed to become a favourite with competitors and indeed winners of the All England Championships for a couple of years More photographs available if you ask. Good luck bidding and add me to your favourites as I shall be selling some rods from my collection this Winter if prices are right !!!!