How "not good" is the nick?
If the cane has gone soft, and doesn't spring back from being bent, it's really only fit for display on the tackle den wall.
If it bounces back crisply, but shows the black lines of glue failure along the "corners" of the cane, it may need a complete dismantling to six strips of cane and a total rebuild.
If there's only a little bit of glue-failure in the thinner sections, it may be possible to do an effective home repair, opening the affected sections out with pins/ cocktail sticks and re-gluing; go to the specialist cane-lovers sites for advice on this.
If it's hollow built - and Aspindales were specialists at this - it may be best to get it repaired by a specialist restorer, there isn't a lot of wall thickness to glue.
If the damage is just mouse-nibbled cork, rusty rings and lifting varnish, its a fairly simple restoration, but you'll want to check out the price of fittings (Hopkins and Holloway) to get some idea of what even a home repair will set you back.
Reading around, it seems these rods were primarily matchman's tools, built to be fished hard and replaced once wrecked; it's a tribute to their quality and the Aspindales' craftsmanship that so many remain fishable - they are quite iconic, and somebody will want it, if you're after a sale; if the cane is sound, fish it yourself (on a dry day!) to see if you want to get it restored (or d.i.y.) for your own use, restored/rebuilt to sell, or sold for the restorer to sell on. It's a rare and respected model from a fine maker, so don't be surprised if you want to keep it!
