Some of you may have come across a bamboo fly rod marked as "Sharpe's of Aberdeen" as the maker. You can sometimes find these rods kicking around at yard sales & flea markets. You can certainly see them offered by vintage tackle dealers on the web, too. 

Sharpe's was / is a Scottish rod & tackle company & they have been around for a long time. Many of their rods were mass-produced, but on the better side of what you probably think of mass-produced rods. Some were impregnated rather than coated with varnish. Often you'll see them with the Farlows name on them. Farlows is a famous retailer in London dealing in fly tackle, as well as many other things.

One thing that trips up some new rod collectors is when they see a Sharpe's rod & notice that the but section is shorter than the tips. That's not uncommon in these rods, as they made many models with staggered ferrules. The video below does a good job of explaining this. 

I'll write more about the history of Sharpe's when I have the time, but the video below shows some of their rods - from very rare to the more common rods - & a few of the reels they made as well. What's nice about the products Sharpe's made is that it provides a step up for the beginning tackle collector. They are good, very usable rods that you can collect & fish with today.