This is a 7500 Series Heddon Vamp. This lure is special because the color- Bar Perch - was never catalogued for this bait. Nonetheless, here it is, mint in the properly  numbered  box.  This rare piece was found in Florida among a cache of unused baits stored since the 1920s. My friend Owen who collects Vamp lures has been after this piece through two presidential administrations.

This early Baby Dowagiac Minnow, or No. 20, has a very high forehead and cup rigging, dating this little gem to the very early teens. Notice that it has only a single propeller. This lure was found in Louisville, Kentucky, and is in the earlier "Game Fish Minnow"  downleaping bass box.

This is a Heddon 150, the standard 5-hook underwater minnow. Like others on this page, it is finished in bar perch, or "early perch," as some collectors say. The box is correct for this lure, and has a penciled notation along one border about the lure's apparent effectiveness at catching bass. This piece is from the mid teens or thereabouts, and has L-rig hook hangers.

The Heddon 100 Series is the smaller version of the 150 Dowagiac described above. Heddon 100s frm the late teens had the fatter body style shown here, along with wonderful hand-painted red gills. The flyer in the box discusses the Heddon Crab Wiggler, another popular classic of that era.

The 1600 series Deep Diving Wiggler appeared around 1914. Note the "inch worm line tie" on the nose, for which Heddon was awarded a patent that same year. This early version is side hooked; most had hooks mounted along the belly. The 1600 was one of the first Heddon lures to utilize L-rig hook hardware.

The Spindiver is one of Heddon's prettiest lures. It was introduced in 1918. This example in bar perch belonged to the Heddon company and was acquired from a former company manager who bought, and still lives in, James Heddon's home on a tree-lined street in downtown Dowagiac, Michigan.

The Crab Wiggler was introduced around 1915. The first boxes had the "Crab Wiggler" logo, in addition to the typical downleaping bass graphics of the early teens era. The color flyer that accompanied these lures described the bait as "new."  The earliest Crabs have a U-shaped collar; later ones are O-shaped, but all Crabs are quite collectible.

This Tadpolly is the mintiest bar perch lure I've ever seen. The picture is self explanatory. This one was found in the field by Herb, a lure picker of legendary notoriety  who still scours the attics and basements of central Michigan for similar treasures.