Found this at a garage sale for $5.00 bucks and in great condition.Anyone know anything about this reel.Its USA made and it a J.C Higgins model 535.
Nice condition find, reel guy --
J. C. Higgins, is of course the Sears Roebuck name for a lot of Sporting Goods products.
Just like the name, Ted Williams was attached to a lot of Sears outdoor products.
Sears contracted with Bronson, Ocean City, and Shakespeare -- among others.
Your reel is an exact match to a Shakespeare model -- just the label is different.
Good, solid old metal reel -- with a ball bearing main assembly -- decent spool capacity.
My guess is mid 60s.
Possibly worth three times what you paid for it.
Won't put the kids through college, or pay off the mortgage -- but it will perform very well, and catch many fish.
Even though it looks like it has not been used too much -- it will need a complete breakdown, cleaning, new grease and oil. Evacuate the bearing -- upgrade the drag to CF greased -- oil everything and the bearing with a good synthetic like TS321 mixed with a little penn or yamaha grease. The reel gets dry after so many years -- and you will be amazed how well it will perform after you are done servicing it.
Best,
Fred
Nothing better than a good garage sale find, and that looks like a good one. Just bringing it back to life will be a blast. Take pix so we can ooh and ahh.