Milt, remember this one?

Ron Mc · Post by **Ron Mc** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:32 pm

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 7217814006

Check the description - the letters CP. Clearly an Ocean City reel, Wanita with the line guide - on its way to being an OC 35.

Jim Madden · Post by **Jim Madden** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 7:01 pm

Yes, that's the Ocean City reel that became the first model #1100 South Bend fly reel. The unmarked red handle examples had to have been trade reels. It would date to the early 20's.

Ron Mc · Post by **Ron Mc** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 7:03 pm

do we know what the CP stands for?

Reel Geezer · Post by **Reel Geezer** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 9:51 pm

Maybe my geezery mind is going, but I don't believe that is an early Wanita. The first ones came out about 1924 and they had no line guide and didn't have a knob at all like the one on that reel. There is no line guide on any Wanita reel until c1940, when the line guide model appeared as a Wanita Deluxe. I checked all my 1930s OC catalogs and none show a Wanita with a line guide, or a Wanita Deluxe. They did have some fly reel models with line guides, but they had standard pillars, not cast into the frame.

I have no idea what the CP might stand for.

Jim Madden · Post by **Jim Madden** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 10:36 pm

Phil, recently I received this Wanita in the box. I was surprised to see that the reel was unmarked. This is a larger version, but it does have the same knob style and it is a one-piece frame. I've seen reels like the auction one with the same red knob but unfortunately never in a box.
P.S. thanks for the help on the 2-screw. I thought it was a goner! Jim

SWIM JIG · Post by **SWIM JIG** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 11:34 pm

cool-thumb jump USA Yes Ron, and I offered them for you to look at, I still have several of them, Jim Maden saw them at Mt Pilier Ohio Show last yera and even took some home to photo graph, and he did send them back! Ron, I will offere you the same deal again, I will mail them to you, study them and mail them back after you make notes, To me they are just line holders to hold my fly line on while I Fly Fish! Your Ohio Conection on lake erie with 10inches of snow on the ground, Col. Milton Lorens aka SWIM JIG

Reel Geezer · Post by **Reel Geezer** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 8:40 am

I'm still confused. My response was in regard to

It would date to the early 20's.

The reel in the auction and your boxed reel do not date to the early 1920s. Your boxed reel is from the mid to late 1930s, and the reel in the auction is from the 1940s or 50s (because it has a line guide). I also can't see on my screen that the reel in the auction has a red knob. It looks black to me.

Ron Mc · Post by **Ron Mc** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 1:35 pm

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 7218011672

OK, looks like I got the numbers wrong - Wanita 305. Sorry.

35, 36 must have come after 305, 306 ?

Jim Madden · Post by **Jim Madden** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 6:49 pm

Here's the early Wanita Sturdibilt. I would be interested to know when OC switched to the handle style in my last picture. I've seen the newer style in grey and red. I have no idea when the line ring was added. There isn't one on this one. Jim

Reel Geezer · Post by **Reel Geezer** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 9:14 pm

Jim: The reel in your photo is the Wanita and/or Wanita Sturdibilt, and that is the knob that is shown in all ads that I have from the 1920s. The earliest catalog that I have is from 1934. The knob pictured on the Wanita in that catalog is the same shape as your photo, but is fastened on with that rivet that they used on the bullet knob. The catalog states "It has a comfortable to hold shaped red catalin handle." The 1935, 1937, 1939 catalogs all show the same knob and have the same description (if that means anything). The knob illustrated in my 1941 catalog is bullet shaped and riveted and the description says "...with a beautiful Tenite handle." It does not say red. That is also the first catalog to show the Wanita Deluxe (with line guide). I would safely say that the red knobs are standard in the 1934-39 era and maybe earlier. They obviously were not limited to trade reels.

Jim Madden · Post by **Jim Madden** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 11:04 pm

I started nosing around and found this OC with the grey swirl handle. The knob seems to be the same as the one in the auction pic. When they dropped the word "red" in 40 or 41 and called the knob "beautiful tenite," they may have meant this one. I guess it's the deluxe model with the line guide. The auction picture shows what looks like a 20's reel frame with a 40's riveted handle - unless that body style prevailed a lot longer than we expected. It is a quality design, and South Bend found some success with it too. All the red knob ones I had seen were unmarked, so I guessed that red was used for trade reels. Why OC stopped stamping their fly reels and began using the box for the specs is a mystery. I wouldn't think it would be that much of a cost saver. I'd ask an OC collector, but I don't know any.

Reel Geezer · Post by **Reel Geezer** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:14 am

Jim: OC didn't ever stop using that body style on the Wanita. When they started making reels with removable pillars they gave them new names, Brandy Brook (A Wanita with round pillars), Viscoy (a Wanita Deluxe). There were some other cosmetic differences, but the old Wanita stayed in production at the same time.

Ron Mc · Post by **Ron Mc** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:01 am

http://cgi.ebay.com/Meisselbach-fly-fis ... 7232137414
Here's the Meisselbach of the same reel - is this where they all started?

Reel Geezer · Post by **Reel Geezer** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:45 pm

Ron: If that reel says Meisselbach on it, it's a counterfeit or fantasy item - whichever you would choose to call it. It is not a Meisselbach reel.

Ron Mc · Post by **Ron Mc** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:15 pm

OK, no problem, Phil. I asked the seller if it had a mark and he hasn't replied.
Thanks

Milt, remember this one?

Milt, remember this one?

Wanita

Wanita

yup , Ron remeber them WELL!

Wanita

1941?