The Missing "Lenks" of Mitchell Reels!

[Wallace Carney]

Greetings My Mitchell Mates!

Did anyone see the Thomas T. Lenk estate auction that ended on October 20, 2021? For those who didn't know, Tom Lenk was the President and CEO of The Garcia Corporation, the exclusive vendor of Mitchell reels here in the United States. It was by far the most exciting auction I've ever been involved in! Two of the rarest Mitchell Reels have now been found. The 20mil 1971 Mitchell 300 reel with gold plating; and "FINALLY" the elusive Mitchell White Lady 300 DL 10mil celebration reel. Other reels were included or as the auctioneer put it:

"From the personal collection of Thomas Lenk. Many engraved. Includes: Fin Nor No.3 Designed by Gar Wood Jr. 3-452 (Tom Lenk metal plate badge) (fly). S.E.Bogdan Nashua N.H. Garcia WF-8-F (larger fly of two Bogdans). S.E.Bogdan Nashua N.H. (med. size fly). G. Little & Co. Makers, London, "Baron A. Erggelet" (med. small fly). Chas. Farlow Maker, London (smaller fly). The "Perfect" Reel, Made by Hardy Bros. (England) for Dame Stoddard Co. Boston ( grey metal fly). Mitchell Garcia 300 DL (France), Nr 10.000.000 metal plate (bone color casting). Mitchell (France) ser.#B86118 (black color casting). C.A.P. (smaller black casting). Mitchell 300 on presentation plaque."

TT Lenk Estate Auction 10-20-21.png (749.2 KiB) Viewed 63101 times

To answer your main question before you ask, no I didn't win but I tried my best. With a current bid of $6,500 I knew I needed to involve someone else who would "keep it in the family" so to speak. I brought in longtime friend and avid Mitchell reel collector George Saul, who, by chance, lives within a 40-minute drive of the auction house. I have a lot more to say, and hope George comes in our forum to give his story, but that's it for now. We have high resolution images of the reels George took when he went to view the lot. I'll be posting these as time permits. You can see the auction at this link: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/11 ... a-and-more

TT Lenk 20Mil Reels in DR Book.jpg (232.85 KiB) Viewed 63101 times

All The Best,
Wallace

[Fishabout]

Now there is a story I can't wait to be continued.

[Ted Lanham]

WOW!!!
Man, the "White Lady" and the gold plated Mitchell 300 are story book reels. I have seen pictures of a silver 300 along with a couple other specials in Wallace's book, but never set eyes on anything about the white and gold plated 300's that were presented to Lenk. When I first saw them the first thought I had was " they would clean up great". Thomas Lenk was a lucky man!
I can't wait to see George's pictures.

Regards,
Ted Lanham

[Sandman]

Thanks Wallace...some special reels....the "bone" color on gold is rich...I'm also drooling over the Garcia badged Bogdan fly reel...

Hooping to see more photos from George.

Sandman

[Ted Lanham]

Mates,
I was just admiring the gold Mitchell 300 when I noticed something about the bail. It appears that either the bail goes into the backing that the reel sets in , or that part of the bail is missing. I'm sure hope that's not the case , but additional pictures may clear this mystery up.
Any body else notice this?

Ted Lanham

[allansharkey]

Now you mention it Ted
I can see what you mean, the silver reel looks the same, I do hope the bail is complete and goes in the backing on both reels, Allan

[Ted Lanham]

Allan,
I didn't notice that on the silver one till you mentioned it. The white one is complete, so the others must be. ??????

Ted Lanham

[Wallace Carney]

Mates,
I was just admiring the gold Mitchell 300 when I noticed something about the bail. It appears that either the bail goes into the backing that the reel sets in , or that part of the bail is missing. I'm sure hope that's not the case , but additional pictures may clear this mystery up.
Any body else notice this? Ted Lanham

Hello Ted and Allan,

All the ones I've studied/documented are the same. The bail wire was snipped to make it appear to go through the felt. I've got pictures somewhere that shows what they did on not only the bail wire, but several other unique adjustments as well.

Best Regards,
Wallace

[Ted Lanham]

Wallace,
It's not really important, I guess, for a display piece. Maybe, Garcia just didn't want those presentation reels used for fishing.

Regards,
Ted Lanham

[piscesman]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks Wallace for the pictures and info. The Gold reel was supposedly made in 1971 with ONLY 5 produced. Talk about rare. Looking forward to more pictures.
Kim

[Ted Lanham]

Mates,
This bail "snipping" thing has been my mind this weekend. I understand these reels being created for just displays, but it seems another method of display could have accommodated not doing that. Maybe, it's just an obsession of mine. I get over it. It's just a fishing reel, just a reel, just a reel.

Regards,
Ted

[Bonaventure]

I wonder if these reels even have a drivetrain inside them. After all, they are not meant to turn.

Glen in Nova Scotia

[Ted Lanham]

Gmen,
Great question! Wallace did say "other unique adjustments".

Ted Lanham

[Bonaventure]

Ted, who are the Gmen you addressed in your last post. Are you trying to make a Federal Issue out of this?



Glen



I couldn't help myself..............

[Ted Lanham]

Glen,
Just one finger typing and hit the wrong one. Maybe, I start using a different finger.

Ted

[Bonaventure]

Hey Ted, I know about typos, I made one on a nato stock number a few weeks ago and wound up ordering 20 snowblowers. Good thing my boss caught it.

Have a good one

Glen

[Bonanza]

Wallace and mates,
What incredible news finding the best of the best from CEO Mr. Lenk. Cannot wait to hear more about the auction and see more photos. Another mystery solved!
Kind Regards Scott

[allansharkey]

Mates,
This bail "snipping" thing has been my mind this weekend. I understand these reels being created for just displays, but it seems another method of display could have accommodated not doing that. Maybe, it's just an obsession of mine. I get over it. It's just a fishing reel, just a reel, just a reel.

Regards,
Ted

I agree with you Ted snipping was a bad idea, I guess they were made just for display, its not just a reel to you me and millions of others its Mitchell reels, rare Mitchell reels, all those years ago it was just a reel, now they are iconic items, if I owned them I would want to wind them all day.....and night. They probably have no gears either.

Regards Allan

[Bonanza]

Ted and Allan,

I think I would be in agreement with you I would like to handle them and spin them, snipping is kind of sad

[Wallace Carney]

Hello Mates!

I've been working with the owner of these reels to get better images and with Keith Elliott, chief editor with the Classic Angling magazine to do an article on these finds. The owner is having a hard time taking pictures that are high resolution, but he "might have these images later on this weekend." There's one person who is already challenging what I have said, the gold reel IS a gold reel, not as he claims as a gold plated where most of the gold has flaked off!? Here is a picture that MAY shut this guy up!!!

image0.jpeg (126.83 KiB) Viewed 62804 times

I promise to have more images soon.

Best Regards, Wallace

[Ted Lanham]

Wallace,
A solid gold reel would be amazing, and worth a pretty penny!
Regards,
Ted Lanham

[Bonanza]

Wallace,

Absolutely stunning. It will be really great to have an article written about these reels. Thank you for all that you do

Kind Regards, Scott

[Bailarm]

I'm confused, Wallace.

Your own first paragraph in your original post says the Lenk presentation 20,000,000 reel is gold plated. The Mitchell reel collector's guide you illustrated uses the words 'coating' and 'plated'.

Do you now believe it is sold gold?

[Wallace Carney]

Hello Mitchell Mates,

I apologize for not keeping up with all the posts but I've been very busy trying to document this find and since I have not even touched any of these reels, It's been difficult. I will say that yes Roger, I do "believe" that this reel is solid gold. I can "say with certainty" that the 20Mil silver reels are solid Sterling silver. In today's high prices of precious metals, it would not be feasible to cast in these metals.

In checking, gold was an average of $45 per ounce in 1971 (someone please do a fact check) so I can easily see the gold is solid just like the silvers. I wish I could study both the Gold 20Mil and the white 10Mil reels to document them in our website. I'm afraid that this is not going to happen and both may be lost in time!

Regarding the 20Mil Gold and Dennis Roberts' book, it is obvious that the reel pictured in Roberts' book is the Gold reel and not the Silver we all thought it was. Here are both reels for you to compare and be the judge:

TT Lenk 20Mil Reels in DR Book 2.jpg (215.49 KiB) Viewed 62748 times

Restored TT Lenk 20mil Gold in B&W.JPG (170.47 KiB) Viewed 62700 times

This oversight by Dennis brings up many questions such as "why did he not know this reel was the gold reel he mentions?" Then; how can we determine how many of each reel were made/presented? I'm going to accept the 25 reels as Dennis mentions being the number of Silver reels made. Since we've only discovered this one Gold in my 23 years of searching for unknown Mitchell mysteries, I feel comfortable saying my best guess would be no more than five Gold reels made. However, my gut/heart thinks a good possibility of only one Gold reel made and this is it!

Any Questions, let's discuss...

Wallace Carney

[Ted Lanham]

fishugo,
That would mean that excepting for the buyer's premium, the rest of those reels are free.

Ted Lanham

[Fishabout]

Two of the reels have been spoken about by the new owner over at the Vintage Mitchell spinning reels facebook page if anyone's interested. Cheers

[Simone Baschirotto]

It is easy to understand if the reel is plated or solid gold, I use tools such as portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometers every day. I have also been able to observe the variations in the type of aluminum used in the first 300 versions, we can easily distinguish the fakes from the originals .
I believe you must have an answer to this simple question about 300 gold 20,000,000.

[Bonanza]

Simone,
That sounds fantastic to be able to scientifically measure the reel for it’s gold plating. An alternative way would be just weigh it, if it is solid 18 karat gold it’s going to weigh significantly more than if it was just gold plated.
Kind Regards, Scott

[Simone Baschirotto]

Scott
what you say is true but I don't know if it is better to remove it from the support, furthermore I believe that the reel is not complete. I've never seen this reel in real life.
a simple measurement also defines the purity of the gold used.
X-rays analyze the material from the inside and not on the surface, this can give 100% safe answers. This is done without touching the object. Each element in the periodic table is displayed starting with a percentage of 0.001.
Aluminum objects are always made of alloys containing other elements such as copper, silicon, magnesium and others in different percentages.
For this it may also be possible to understand if a reel is made pre or post war by comparing it with other products from the same factory, I can say that there have been significant changes in Mitchells over the years.
Cordiali saluti.
Simone

[Ted Lanham]

Simone,
Very interesting information.

Ted Lanham

[Wallace Carney]

Scott, what you say is true but I don't know if it is better to remove it from the support, furthermore I believe that the reel is not complete. I've never seen this reel in real life.
Simone

Dear Simone and Scott,

The images below will show how these reels were mounted. The tray the reels set in can be removed with great care but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unsure of himself! Simone, you are correct in your assumption that these reels are not complete again as you can see below. There's just one gear, the main gear drive, that's used to clamp the handle down preventing it from turning. The rotating head is also locked down by using too many shims. These reels would have been so much more appreciated if they were complete working models. Instead what we have here in both the silver and the gold reels are just shells but they are still magnificent!

20 Mil Silver Cleaned 1.JPG (215.98 KiB) Viewed 62119 times

20 Mil Silver Cleaned 2.JPG (205.33 KiB) Viewed 62119 times

20 Mil Silver Cleaned 3..jpg (152.63 KiB) Viewed 62119 times

If I have left out anything please let me know...

Kindest Regards,
Wallace

[Ted Lanham]

Wallace,
Thanks for posting those pics. They are very informative.


Ted Lanham

[Simone Baschirotto]

excellent answer Wallace.
I'm sure all Mitchell collectors thank you for these pictures. Personally I can say that the reel is more complete than what I expected long ago. I wasn't sure there was a main gear inside but thinking about it it is necessary for the handle.
This makes these objects even more unique in my opinion.
A presto.
Simone

[Bailarm]

So that's how they did it!. Thanks for posting those images Wallace.

[allansharkey]

It is easy to understand if the reel is plated or solid gold, I use tools such as portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometers every day. I have also been able to observe the variations in the type of aluminum used in the first 300 versions, we can easily distinguish the fakes from the originals .
I believe you must have an answer to this simple question about 300 gold 20,000,000.

I often strip and polish reels that are in a paint poor state, some come up almost like the silver reel which is stunning, others dull, I came to the conclusion the aluminum changed over the years, I should have made notes on what years were best for polishing, also the paint also varies in difficulty in removing, although I must say that even the best polished reels dull with handling when re-assembling, auto sol brings them up good but not silver good, I often thought of chrome but the cost is prohibitive, just the ramblings of a reel restorer, Allan

[Bonaventure]

Hi Mates,

I would like to get hold of one of these Gold Bodies, just so I could fit it out with “innards” for a working reel. This would be just to get a reaction down at the Old Fishing Hole, My luck, I would be robbed.

G. Glen Simpson
Gold Reel Dreamer
Dartmouth Nova Scotia.