Antique Lures: Heddon Punkinseeds

The 740 series Punkinseeds were in production in 1940 until 1943, all being 2 1/2 inches long and weighing roughly 3/5 oz. They were made of wood and they bear a resemblence to a sunfish or pumpkinseed in shape. They were made as a floating lure and they have the line tie under the chin (directly above the metal lip) and they came in 2 piece hardware. They were usually stamped with "Heddon Floating Punkinseed" ("Heddon Punkinseed") on their belly, so they are somewhat easy to identify.

They were available in several different colors (9 catalogued), and it's not unusual to find quite a few variations (darker, lighter, more spots, less markings, etc.) of each color because the older lures of our time were usually hand painted/stenciled.

You can find them in the following colors: (color codes)
Bluegill (BGL)
Crappie (CRA)
(Soft Spot) Crappie (CRA)
Perch (PCH)
Rockbass (ROB)
Shad (SHA)
Sunfish (SUN)
(no spot) Sunfish (SUN)
(green face) Sunfish (SUN)
Red & White Shore (XS)
Black & White Shore (XBW)
Yellow Shore (XRY)

(uncatalogued)
Silver Herring (SH)
Silver Shore (XRS)
Goldfish (XSK)
Blue Pearl (PLB)
and one that some call Strawberry to Carnival Spot. (code unknown to me)

(Below you will see photos of several Heddon Punkinseeds in 740)

The 730 series Punkinseeds were introduced around the same time frame and were a sinking model that were 2 1/4 inches long and weighing roughly 2/3 oz. They too were made of wood and you will find them in two different types of hardware: the older have 2 piece hardware and the others are found in surface hardware (around 1946). The oldest of the bunch also have the line tie under the chin while the others have the tie in the mouth.

The 730's are found in several colors : (color codes)

Shad (SD)
Bluegill (BGL)
(saltwater) Bluegill (BGL)
Crappie (CRA)
Perch (PCH)
Rockbass (ROB)
Blackshore (XBW)
Yellowshore (XRY)
Sunfish (SUN)
(green face( Sunfish (SUN)
Shad (SHA)
Red & White Shore (XS)
Rainbow (RB)
Goldfish (XSK)
Silver Shore (XRS)
also, White Shore

The 980 fly rod Punkie Spook was the first of the Spook Series. They were being produced in the late 1940's and were made until the late 1950's. They come in two types: single hook & treble hook, both being 7/8" long and weighing roughly 1/20th of an oz.

The single hook was the first and was made until 1948. It was then later reintroduced in the 1951 catalog and then within the next year/year & half, they switched to treble hooks. They were finally put to rest and discontinued altogether in the late 1950's (around 1958). They came in a range of colors, and they are quite collectible.
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The 9630 Punkinseed spook was introduced around 1950 and there are many, many different colors of them in many variations, all being 2 1/8" long and weighing roughly 5/8 oz. Their birth marked the end of the wooden versions. Some of the "tuffer" colors are quite collectible.

There are a couple of ways to date 9630's:
The 2 piece tail and surface belly (see hardware pictures) dates them to 1950. They began using a surface tail with a surface belly around 1951 for a ten year stretch. Around 1962, they began to use a bell (see hardware pic) tail with a surface belly until for several years until they began to use a bell tail with a bell belly around 1974.
You can also notice their eyes: a gold eye is the oldest, dating them from 1950 until around 1960-61. They began to use a creme colored eye right after and they used them until the production end. Some models have different colored eyes (the oldest crappie have orange and one sunfish has yellow, and etc.) and for them you can use the hardware to help you date them, approx.

It gets a little tricky, but once you learn the hardware and the dates they were used by the Heddon company, it gets easier.
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The 380 tiny punkinseed began to show up in 1956 and are 1 3/4 inches long and weigh 1/3 oz. There are numerous colors of these with many uncatolagued colors as well. The earliest have gold eyes with the later versions having creme eyes. They all had bell hardware on both tail and belly and are stamped Heddon Tiny Punkinseed. They were in production until around 1977-8.
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The 382 Punkinspins have the same body as the tiny punkinseeds only with one hook on their belly and a trailing spin on their tail. There is no real trick to dating these for they were only produced for a few years, from around 1974 to 1977-8.