Here is some history of the lure that I was able to find -

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The guy seemed to be something of a con artist in his marketing, but it appears that he essentially brought to market the first buzz bait, or at least something close to it.

There is one for sale on Ebay, not in as good a condition as yours, going for $15.

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There are usually fishing lure collections and collectors at the sportsman's shows around here, if you attend a sportsman's show in your area I'm guessing someone would know what it's worth.