Found a very interesting spinner, Preciosa D.G.M.a

[The Fishing Hobby]

Preciosa D.G.M.a
I thought I would post some pics here and some of my observations.
If anyone has any information on these reels, I would love to hear it!
This thing would cost a small fortune to manufacture today. It seems like much of the reel must have been hand turned on a lathe with some possible milling on the body casting as well. This one seems to be in very good condition, although I am not really a collector for the sake of collecting. I use the spinners I buy, so my standards may not be as high
If anyone is interested in purchasing or possibly working out a trade on this one I would be open to it. If not it might be a display piece in my home just because I can appreciate the craftsmanship involved. I wouldn't use this one, too unique.
Here are some pics with some of my observations. I am posting the thumbnails because of the large number of pictures, click on them to see the full sized images:



One of the first things that caught my eye when I saw it in the display case was the machine marks on the handle, obviously turned on a lathe. I'm no machinist, but I do have a small metal turning lathe and I noticed the tooling marks right away. This reel predated CNC machines so it had to have been turned by hand. That was enough to make me want to have a closer look, so I asked to see the reel.



After holding it in my hands I could see what looks like milling marks on the body. It looks to me like the body was cast and then milled. How cool is that?



Just look at all the tooling marks on this thing! These were hand machined in some form or fashion from top to bottom.





See the slot cut into the bail wire holder? That is where a leg of the bail spring is held. I have never seen one made like that before.



The spool is clearly machined (not totally unheard of or unique), but look at the spool knob. Two piece machined construction...and look at the quality of the knurling on the knob:





Tooling marks inside the rotor:



The paint seems really nice to me as well. Must be lead based paint



The grip looks like it was turned on a lathe as well. It also looks to be anodized.


This reel uses bevel gears much like the old Mitchell's. The grease isn't even gummy.

[Midway Tommy D]

Nice find, Kevin, it looks to be in very nice condition. They were made in Germany in the late '40s through early '50s. They're not real rare as they do come up every now and again. It would probably bring $50 +-, maybe a little more given it's condition if more than one person really wanted it.

[The Fishing Hobby]

Thanks for the info! It is a real interesting reel. I can't even imagine what something made this way would cost at modern labor rates (even in China). It was neat just finding it, felt like I needed to bring it home and figure out what to do with it from there.

[The Fishing Hobby]

Here is a video overview of the reel that I did:

[The Fishing Hobby]

Wow, that reel sold very quickly!

[The Fishing Hobby]

Just wanted to update this with a little info I found out from the buyer. He has some old German reel books and they are mentioned there but apparently there isn't much additional information about them. I was glad to have seen it up close and to have the opportunity to share it with others. It is going to a person who already owns one in poor cosmetic condition and is happy to be getting this one. I'm happy to have been able to find it a good home!

[Midway Tommy D]

Congrats on the sale, Kevin, you got a very good price out of it!

[The Fishing Hobby]

Thanks. I probably would have kept it had I not gotten any offers close to that amount. It was only listed for a few hours before it sold and the buyer paid the full asking price, but I had an offer for 25% less on it already as well. That makes me think that there are some people keeping an eye out for these so I guess we all should too! I probably won't ever run across another one but you never know.

[Midway Tommy D]

They always say "a bird in the hand is always worth two in the bush". I'm sure condition and color were 2 driving forces. The majority are black with a lot of wear.

I think you'll find, though, given their manufacture and market time period after WWII, the history has more to do with a 1948, 25 company merger in Jablonec, Liberec and Turnov, Czechoslovakia than sales in Spain. Jewelry makers throughout the world dabbled quite a bit, from time to time, in reel manufacturing.

[The Fishing Hobby]

Is it the same company? I found some pages from Italy that I ran through Google translation and they seemed to believe that the were produced in Germany. The man I sold them to is from Italy but working in the US at the moment and he said that he found some info on them in German reel books as well. Not a lot but some.
I know Germany took over parts of Czechoslovakia in WWII, maybe there was a tie there. I found a site that mentioned the reels being sold in Spain but maybe that was false info.

[The Fishing Hobby]

Searching through our own forum here just now and ran across this: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7901
Whomever made these and wherever they were made, they are interesting reels to say the least.

[Midway Tommy D]

Yes, Ben made the tie to Germany prior to his last book, Wright's Spinning Reel Reference & Value Guide 2011 Edition.