Founded in 1929, the Comet Trading Company has a distinguished pedigree: its founders, Randolph Keitch and Basil Horton, were Seeker and Beater for the Falmouth Falcons. They used their hands-on knowledge of the game to improve on the shortcomings of the Cleansweep Ones that had by then become ubiquitous in the professional Quidditch circuit.

This is not to say that development was simple. Needing one-hundred forty iterations before they got it just right, it’s fair to say that the Comet Trading Company’s debut broom caused them quite the struggle! Learning from scratch - neither had experience in manufacture nor broomcraft - Keitch writes in his memoir From Falcons to Founders, “[they] often felt that [they] were not cut out for the craft.” Still, they persevered, and it’s very fortunate for Wixen that they did! Things finally changed for them on a misty March morning, says Keitch in his memoir. 

The following extract is provided courtesy of Obscurus Books. From Falcons to Founders can be purchased by Owl Order from all good wizarding bookstores.

“Having little appetite, Baz and I left to the workshop at half-five, eager to finish the charms on our eighty-seventh attempt. We felt laced with Felix Felicis, liquid luck running in our veins. It felt almost as a premonition: today we would make history. We got into position, one each side of the broom. Baz raised his wand and I my own. Together, we took a deep breath, and cast.”

The spell that the two cast on that first broom was the now-famous Horton-Keitch Braking Charm. Keitch goes on to report its effects as “magical”, a decidedly uninspired descriptor. That being said, having seen their contemporaries’ work, there can be little argument on just how much the Charm revolutionised the broomstick, and by extension, the sport of Quidditch.

More Stopping Power than an Erumpent
Comet 140
Released: 1929

Material: Hickory shaft, elm twigs
Top speed: 51mph
0-60: n/a
0-120: n/a
0-180: n/a
New features: Horton-Keitch Braking Charm
Price on launch: 9 Galleon, 6 sickles (~380 Galleons, adjusted for inflation)
Current price: Upwards of 250,000 Galleons

The Comet 140 is now highly-regarded as one of the greatest early broomsticks. More expensive than its competitor, the Cleansweep One, but with superior braking and acceleration, many Quidditch teams immediately pivoted to the Comet 140. Following the introduction of the Comet 140 and the Horton-Keitch Braking Charm, offside fouls in Quidditch dropped sixty percent; great news for fans of the sport, as the constant halts and penalty shots were interrupting gameplay.

The Comet 140 had several distinct advantages as compared to the Cleansweep One. Although their top speeds were the same, the Comet 140 was ever-so-slightly faster in acceleration, and the aforementioned Braking Charm meant that the Comet 140 could be controlled much easier than the competition.

The development of this broom was not taken lightly by Cleansweep, as mentioned previously, and ignited a fierce rivalry over the next several years. Rumours abounded that Comet copied designs from Cleansweep, but these rumours were never proven - indeed, evidence has recently come to light that implicates Cleansweep’s marketing department as the source. That said, Comet Trading were not cowed by Cleansweep’s rapid release of the Two and Three, instead working diligently on their next broom.

Sixty Miles an Hour
Comet 180
Released: 1938

Material: Hickory shaft, elm twigs
Top speed: 63 mph
0-60: 31.1
0-120: n/a
0-180: n/a
New features: None
Price on launch: 11 Galleons 3 Sickles (~520 Galleons, adjusting for inflation)
Current price: 2,000 Galleons

The first mass-produced broomstick to reach a recorded top speed greater than sixty miles per hour, the Comet 180 released to resounding success. Critics praised the smoothness of the ride as well as the rapid acceleration: one likened it to riding a Hippogriff, “if the Hippogriff’s wings did not get in the way at all.”  Not since the Silver Arrow had there been such a fast broom - however, unlike the Silver Arrow, one wasn’t in a waiting list for eighteen months to purchase it. Furthermore, the charms did not weaken with time. Indeed, you could hop onto a Comet 180 today and still enjoy that legendarily smooth ride and speed!

Of course, this success did not last long before Cleansweep got in on the high-speed action and stole Comet’s thunder. In the years that followed, the Comet 220 and 260 were released to counter Cleansweep’s efforts. Throughout the rivalry, neither company gained much headway on the other, with roughly equal market shares. Where Cleansweep produced a successful model, Comet countered with some superior feature or another.

Comet Trading Company takes a little longer to produce models than its competitors, but their fans are certain that the wait is worth it. Indeed, it would seem that they are correct: Comet has yet to have a single lacklustre release in their ninety-something year history.

Comet Trading Company’s latest model is the Comet 340, which is positively crammed with new features to set it apart from the competition. Not only is this broom well-suited to racing and competition, but the increased support of the proprietary Comet Cushioning Charm and its anti-theft features make it an appealing option for the travelling wix.

Turns on a Knut
Comet 340
Released: 2018

Material: Certified Broom-Quality Hickory shaft, elm twigs
Top speed: 236 mph
0-60: 2.4 seconds
0-120: 7.9 seconds
0-180: 12.3 seconds
New features: Comet Cushioning Charm, anti-theft cloaking, HK48 Braking Charm
Price on launch: 2800 Galleons (~2870 Galleons, adjusted for inflation)
Current price: 2800 Galleons

Featuring the forty-eighth version of the Horton-Keitch Braking Charm, shortened to HK48 Braking Charm in all advertisements, the Comet 340 is as much a broom for the sportsman as for the commuter. Although the base model does not include a Skybelt Charm, Comet does offer it as an upgrade for an extra ten Galleons, making this broom flightpath-legal. For an additional fifteen Galleons (for a total of twenty-five), Comet will throw in the Toggle Charm, allowing the user to switch between flightpath-legal (with the Skybelt) and Quidditch ready (without). These options have made the Comet 340 a highly popular broom for Quidditch nuts and commuters alike.

As the most recently released broom from a British Six manufacturer, the Comet 340 showcases some of the best that Britain has to offer the broomstick community: a fast, reliable mode of transportation that isn’t afraid to get its hands dirty and have some fun now and then too. It’s clear that the Comet Trading Company’s latest offering fits a niche currently unoccupied by any of the major manufacturers: a luxury dual-purpose broom suitable for both pick-up games at the park and pick-up at the end of the working day.

Looking forward, word on the Devil’s Snare is that the next in line for the Comet legacy is already in development, but the company has declined to comment on the veracity of this claim.