PENN KINGFISHER TRADE REEL with MODEL K SIDE PLATES ????????

[m3040c]

Now what do I make of this reel? It is a late 1930's vintage Penn reel with no mention of the manufacturer anywhere on the reel. None of the parts have part numbers stamped on them. When I broke the reel down to clean it, I find the "Circle K" on the inside of the side plates which tells me they are Jacobs plates. They are 3 pillar brown bakelite. Everything about this reel screams first generation Longbeach but the logo says Kingfisher and that is all, except for a picture of a bird in the logo. This Penn looks like a trade reel made with Model K side plates. Check the pictures, I am open for opinions.

First lets look at some pictures of the complete reel:::





Now here are the reel parts:::



Of course the shaft collar has a chip out it, like all Model K plates I have seen:::



In the next two pictures you can see the "Circle K" brand:::






And now the Logo:::



OK Penn People, help me out here. Is this a trade reel or a early Penn production reel that Penn forgot to mark? One of the type of reels I collect are early Penn 3 pillar reels and as far as I knew the Kingfisher was not one of them, until now that is.

[Brian F.]

Looks like a trade reel to me.

[Teal]

That is definitely the Ed. K. Tryon logo. I have one in the box marked "Kingfisher Sea Queen." I think they used several manufacturers to sell reels marked Sea Queen over the years.

Tryon was an old, old trade house out of Philadelphia best noted for their Kingfisher (not related to Kingfisher fishing lines though) and Pennell line line of tackle.

Cheers,

Dr. Todd

[m3040c]

So this is an early Penn product trade reel. Thanks for the help. The road to Penn origins is constantly turning. Who would have thought that Otto Henze would have been manufacturing trade reels with Jocobs side plates. I guess that being the time period was in the Great Depression and Penn was a brand new company meant that making money was the priority and a reel order was a reel order, no matter what logo was on the reel. Interesting.