Herb Smith was one of England's greatest boomerang makers. Herb started making Birch plywood hooks and traditional boomerangs in the 1960s and was one of the first suppliers of boomerangs to the Boomerang Man in the early 1970s. Before Al Gerhards started making his S/L hooks, Herb Smith was the only commercial supplier of long distance boomerangs. One of the first boomerangs I purchased was a large weighted Sussex Hook with a range of 80+ metres. I became an instant fan. Herb was an early Long Distance World Record holder with a carefully documented throw of 108 yards on 17 June 1972 using a large weighted traditional model called the "Gem". In the 1980s, Herb introduced the world to Paxolin material, a dense and hard composite material that significantly extended the range of his plywood models. Herb continued to make plywood models as Sports boomerangs, even after the introduction of the Paxolin models. The Paxolin boomerangs were smaller and usually painted in two colors and with simple line art banding. The wooden models were often decorated with many colorful bands, flowers, birds and occasionally other themes. Herb did most of his own art work, but while he was a prison guard, he employed the skills of master forgers in the prison where he worked. Herb stopped making boomerangs in the late 1980s and the boomerang world was without one of it's greatest craftsman. Then suddenly in the early 1990s, Herb started making Paxolin and finely decorated Birch plywood models. This continued until Herb's death in 1995. Herb's models have become among the finest of collectable boomerangs as the supply continues to diminish.

This "Gem" boomerang is an early example of Herb's plywood boomerangs. This one was probably made in the 1970s. It is decorated with simple, yet colorful line art, which was typical for this period. This boomerang is signed on the underside. The signature was written at a right angle to the axis of the boomerang and this is the only example I have seen with this type of signature. There is a small ding on the trailing edge of the dingle arm a couple of inches from the tip and a small amount of wear from use. This is not the heavy Gem traditional model that Herb used to set his world record, but it is an excellent collectable.