Rescued from the trash can...

[Tightlines667]

A good friend of mine just text me these photos of a reel he found in the trashcan.

"Is this worth keeping?...
Looks kinda old."  he said.

[Tightlines667]

Here was my response...

"Cool reel Joe!

That looks like a Penn, but it is not.  

It is a Penn copy, and many would say an improvement over the origional.  

That is a Lawrence Manufacturing model 285-M, and it sold for $13.95 in 1957.  This model is a copy of the Penn Longbeach, and was designed as a surfcasting reel, though marketed "For Deep Sea, Bottom Fishing, and Trolling". It holds 250yds of 12lb mono and featured a single piece chromed bronze spool, which Penn began offering just 2 years earlier.  Lawrence made 2 models (the other was a 'Squidder' copy with 3.5:1 gears, just slightly faster then the Penn 'Squidder', and I believe one of the fastest available at the time).  The sideplates were made of Melmac (a popular plastic at the time), and came in either black or teal-green colors.  I am not sure how many of these  reels were produced, but I believe they could be considered collectable.  The 1957 longbeach reel is valued at $25-$50 so I would venture a wild guess that this one may be worth up to about double, to the right collector.  I noticed the chipped sideplate, which along with wear would likely put this below middle of the road.. maybe a A4/M5or6...so prob worth somewhere in the $30-$70 range.*

Nice find!"

"This reel along with some of those produced by Penn in 1955, 56, and 57 was truely designed to utilize the newly improved Monofiliment lines that were becoming popular. It did this by having better single piece spools, and much tighter tollerance between the spool and the sideplate and retaining rings.  Its also interesting that the scallopped handle retaining screw, and both head and tailplate bushings are stamped with what appear to be penn part numbers.  Is there a number on the reel foot (underside), and/or on the backside of the handle arm? The inside of the spool, jack, yoke, eccentric, and bridge may also have stamped part numbers.  Though looking at the headplate design, I doubt if any of the internals were the exact same as the penn reels.  

Hmm..I wonder if they actually used Penn parts?"

"Probably a bit more info. then you asked for...

Clean the reel up and sell it on EBAY, with a good description of some of the above details.  

Fix it up and fish it,

Bring it back to HI and I can add it to my collection, or

Maybe you want to start your own set of dust collectors?  

But whatever you do...

Don't throw it away!"

*Looks like these guys typically sell for $10-$30 or so.

[Tightlines667]

BTW Mike...thanks for making me sound like I know what I am talking about

Feel free to make any corrections to the above or add any info as you see fit.

[Shark Hunter]

Looks like a keeper to me John. Unusual that a penn copy has penn parts. Let us see inside when you get it.

[Penn Chronology]

Great story about the Lawrence model. The Lawrence was sold mostly without its own name on it. You friend's reel carries the Lawrence name which makes it a bit more desirable than the generic models.

I wish I could say it is valuable but they are not. The one I have in my collection is the Model 295M, which is the Squidder / Surfmaster copy. It is faster than the Squidder at a 3 3/4 to 1 retrieve ratio. The company actually made a full line of saltwater reels, spinning reels, freshwater bait casting reels and closed face spinning reels. The corporation office was in Manhattan and the factory was in Lawrence, Mass.

Most of their gear is middle of the road quality, but there is a interesting extremely hard to find Lawrence item that would probably sell high and that is an original catalog. I have an incomplete catalog copy but I have never seen an original.

[reelrepair123]

 lawrence monospool   also put out reels with light blue sideplates and red also, i think the red ones are rarer, not a bad reel a good copy of the penns.   jc higgins also put out a reel with light blue sideplates.   harryk

[Penn Chronology]

Those Blue and Red models were made from Melmac. A 1950 plastic used mostly to make plastic dinnerware. Ocean Ctiy also used Melmac on their Blue and red reels of the  1950's.