Hi, picked up this reel that looks similar to a Carlton Superior but it's stamped Badger Special. Has a sliding handle and Carlton foot , metal banding and hard rubber plates similar to the Superior but the bearing caps are different and the handle seems to be wood , not bone. Some screws are original with some replacements.
Have any Carlton collectors or anyone else run across this particular reel? I am trying to find information and verify whether the bearing caps and handle are correct.
Please take a look at the photos below.
Thanks
Bill Graves, Key Largo
Bill I have a collection of Carlton/Rochester/Frost salt water reels and they have all kinds of names on them different than the catalog names. Also they have different style end caps and different style handle knobs. I have a Carlton catalog and a Rochester catalog & they both show the Superior Quadruple reel and it looks just like yours except for the end caps and the handle knob. Some of my salt water reels have the same click spring as on your reel. I am sure it is a Carlton/Rochester reel & the end caps & knob are probably original based on my salt water reels. Nice find - Bill Hoerter
Looks also like my Superior with the exception of the end caps (mind are jeweled) and the handle looks different. The Superior came in plain bearings and jeweled bearings. No reference to the Badger Special is found in the catalog or the Lehman and White article in the Reel News (1998). Yours may have been a trade reel made by Carlton and sold by someone else. Sound like a nice reel.
Hello Don, Bill and Roger. Thank you for your input about the reel. Bill, I remember your reels at the 2015 ORCA National Show in Dania , Florida and they were fantastic...I took photos so will go back and review them. I have read your posts about various named Carlton reels but thought different names applied mainly to the larger Saltwater reels. Roger, thanks also for weighing in...did not know you also collected Carlton. Lastly Don, there isn't much you haven't seen so interesting that you had not seen this type of click before.
Thank you all...hopefully someone has this reel and will post photos. It is a cool reel and is at home with all my other Carltons. That's why collecting reels is so great...you never know what you'll find.
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Nice reel. Yes, I suspected Carlton too.
Reely Easy Going ORCA Member