Age of Penn reels

[travelin4fun]

I remember hearing that you can tell the age of some penn reels be the color of the hanle knob.  Is this true?  If so where can I get this information about the color's and the year they were produced?

[alantani]

this is from bob lanham......

Haven't seen it posted lately so here are the color codes for Penn reels with the original handle: amber = 30-40's, red = 50's, green = 60's, white = 70's, black = 80's and rubber 90's>. I've got two Penn #209's one amber and the other rubber and they are exactly the same despite being 60+ years apart. Fun to catch salmon with a reel older than me IMO. Bob

but i had another guy tell me that this was bogus.  there is also a beautiful rose colored handle grip that is not listed.  who knows?  alan