Please DO NOT post things like this! You will just get me started in another crazy time and money consuming hobby for which I have little of each to invest!! I did enjoy reading the Bronson Reel history page on the ORCA website. I grew up in Michigan but never realized that the company was based there. Or that the Shakespeare company was in Kalamazoo!! I used both companies reels when I was kid fishing on the great lakes.
Nice looking Winchester reel!
Michael
Model 1892 / Model 61 Collector, Research, Valuation
twobit said
I did enjoy reading the Bronson Reel history page on the ORCA website.
Best reels built by Bronson weren’t Winchesters, or any of the other brand names Bronson reels were sold under, they were the J. A. Coxe line which Bronson purchased from the founder of that small company. The Model 25 Coxe, solid nickel silver, & hard-rubber side plates, was the best made, most expensive, and certainly most beautiful, casting reel of the pre-war period. I’ve been using several of them exclusively for the last 30 yrs. Modern fishing tackle interests me as much as modern guns, that is, 0.0.
I don’t believe it is, or at the least find it highly unlikely. Its not impossible but I’d save my money. Never seen one engraved before, but that doesn’t mean anything.
Good luck trying to find a serial number and calling Cody for a factory letter!
Sincerely,
Maverick
WACA #8783 - Checkout my Reloading Tool Survey!
https://winchestercollector.org/forum/winchester-research-surveys/winchester-reloading-tool-survey/
Maverick said
Good luck trying to find a serial number and calling Cody for a factory letter!
Next best thing to that would be finding it in one of the hardware catalogs WRA put out in the ’20s, which I think have been reproduced. Possibly there was also a fishing tackle catalog, which should be esp. interesting.
pdog72 said
The reel is in the 1927 catalog. No mention of any engraving options for any reels, but that’s not saying it didn’t happen. You could buy a dozen of these for $47.50 ($3.96 each). I tried to add a PDF scan of it, but it wouldn’t open once attached.
If I were going to pay the cost of full-coverage engraving, sure wouldn’t pick a $4 reel to do it on! As a comparison of prices & quality, Pflueger’s top of the line Supreme model sold for $25 in 1934, a dollar or two less than my favorite, the Coxe 25. Next most expensive in Pflueger’s line was the Summit model at $10, which had full-coverage machine engraving; so “fancy” doesn’t equate with expensive.
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