Coxe 15

[Willis Logan]

The Coxe 15 was marketed from 1939 through 1941. There were some changes made to the reel in this three year period. Does anyone have any knowledge regarding the changes that were made, and when they were made?

[wrong99]

The "cross-bolt" design was changed in 1940, but without any known 1939 or 1940 Coxe catalogs to refer to, it's difficult for me to know any other changes. Perhaps our resident Coxe expert, Bill Sonnett, will chime in.
Mark

*Note* The 1939 and 1940 Coxe catalogs are desperately needed for the Bronson website. Help here would be greatly appreciated.

[Bill Sonnett]

Like much of research into early lures and reels, it is relatively simple to line up examples with small changes in chronological order. Putting a definite date on those changes can be a real task that involves catalogs, advertising, the introduction of similar items in the product line and most valuable of all, incidental photographs in dated magazines that demonstrate a change has already been made. In the case of the Coxe #15 it was marketed for a relatively short time (1939-July,1942) The number of #15 examples is a mear fraction of the more popular #25. I would assume that many of the changes parallel those made in the #25 (some examples of which I will mention). The number of #15's I have been able to examine is so small that I hesitate to say much about them.

On #25's I have taken note of some small changes such as:
Earliest examples have an entirely different pinion gear set up which is shown on the Bronson website. Earliest examples have a plain antibacklash control knob with no "off" and "on" marked on it. The cup on the earliest reels that retains the pawl has no slot for a screwdriver and needs to be turned with fingers (good luck with that--pass the pliers please) Earliest examples have a handle and handle retaining nut that appear to be identical to later examples but are NOT interchangeable with later models, the hole in the handle is smaller and so is the shaft on which it is fitted as well as the threaded hole in the retaining nut. I am sure there are more examples that don't come to mind at this moment. I should mention here that when it comes to many #25's (and at least one #15 I have seen) Bronson seems to have had a big barrel of #25 feet and particularly (though not exclusively) after 1946 just reached in and used whatever foot happened to come up. One commonly sees #25N's with feet marked #25, -- #25's with feet marked #25N -- as well as much later reels with feet that are marked with pre-WWII dates. This is particularly common on reels made right after the War as production resumed. One sees pre-War levelwinds as well other pre-War parts brought into service. They seem to have entirely given up on the idea of marking dates on the bottom of the foot after 1946. There are other small changes that take place on the #25's after 1946 but are not applicable to the #15 as it is out of production after WWII. Hope this helps.

[Willis Logan]

Thanks Mark and Bill! The information provided by Mr. Sonnett is too good. One thing for sure is that the Coxe 15 is one fine casting reel and was very well made.