Mystery Box

[RadarRick]

I've been trying to find info on this "Penn" box. It doesn't match any of the images that I've seen.

It seems to be either a fake or from a time when the company was short on printing resources.

I would be grateful if anyone can shed some light.

cheers,
Rick

[JasonGotaProblem]

It says at the top Penn #85 I have one of those as do likely many others here.

Edit: I realized I hit post before I said anything useful. I didn't intend to sound dismissive.

[RadarRick]

thanks. I've got a couple of 85s too. But I haven't seen this style of box before. Maybe it's a standard box for the lower end reels.

[foakes]

According to Mr. Cacioppo's Chronological history of Penn Reels —- this was a model 85, as Jason pointed out, and you already know.  It was an un-named 200 yard reel in 1946 that matching up the price of $3 —- seems like around a 1946 production date.

Of course, this was at the end of WWII —- and everything was in short supply from suppliers since most manufacturers of boxes, cars, nylons, and nearly everything else —- had moved their production to the War effort.

Even copper pennies in 1943 were made of steel.

So this is an original box, in my opinion.

If you need a reel for it, myself or others on here have a bunch.

Ted is our expert.

Box is likely worth more than the reel today.

Later, this reel became the "DelMar".

Best, Fred

[Bill B]

The OP's box "looks" to be a bare bones box that "could" have been used during the material shortages of the war years.  But even then during the war years all images I have seen still show a 2 piece box.  What I find interesting is the OP's box appears to be a 1 piece box as opposed to the 2 piece boxes used up until the late 50's.  Mike's book talks about the various box styles (pages 214-217), and "experimental" boxes, however these don't show up until the 50's.  And no where do I see any other example of the OP's box in Mike's books. 

As for the originality of the OP's box I would have to defer to Mike or Ted, but I would be suspect at this time.  I would not pay a premium for the box until I had their input.  If the box is original, yes that would put it in the category of Hen's Teeth, and worth considerably more than my DelMar 286 box.

[Maxed Out]

Ok, here's the scoop on this box. The 85 was introduced in 1941 for $2.50, then in 1942 it was listed as $3.00, then in 1946 it was listed as $4.00, so easy to summarize the box is 1942.

 The 85 had no name in 1942. Penn finally named it a "Seaboy" in 1952/53 catalog

 (I have seen a few of these boxes. Not rare, but also not commonly found IMHO)

 This info came strait from Micheal Cacioppo's blue Penn history book, "The chronological history of Penn reels" 1932-1957.....also known as "The Penn reel bible" in the collector world

 Edit: Fred, your 1942 Delmar 286 box with reel was only available in 1941 and 1942, and was not mentioned in any catalog, and is very sought after by collectors. Easily worth couple hundred bucks on a bad day !!

[RadarRick]

Excellent info!  Many thanks for everyone's replies.

Rick