An Early Jim Payne Parabolic 2-piece, 2-tip, 7' 10 1/8" staggered ferrule rod. This is a curious one, with some interesting pros and cons. Let's start with the pros: This rod is built with a staggered ferrule and the butt shorter than the tips; it has an excellent original Payne all-metal reel seat with early die stamp and soldered rolled ring; Agate stripper and tip tops; The most stunningly lovely large size bamboo rod tube (we often see tip tubes like this but never see full rod tubes) with a handsome brass top and collar that are elegantly ornamented with a few trim marks and a raised coin edge knurl. The owners name is lettered on the rod tube as well as butt section of the rod, "Chas E Speer, Passaic N.J." who was an employee of Payne's. As to the cons: the rod has been refinished; the ferrules are not Payne standard; the temper color of the tips does not match the butt; the farmer marks and node spacing suggest that this was put together with "B"quality blanks; and lastly, there is no ferrule convention for the length of the slide. Taken altogether I suspect this rod may have been put together from odds and ends and leftovers lying around the Payne shop. Still the rod tube and much of the hardware make this an interesting piece indeed.