The Wright Price Guide for the Reel Man

by Ben Wright

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There is no denying that there is a great deal of interest in spinning reels by reel collectors today. Magazines and reference books are presenting a great deal of information about these types of reels. Author Ben Wright has helped out with two previous editions of his spinning reel price and information guide.

Ben Wright’s spinning reel book keeps getting better. In the past two editions we have mainly found the book to be a price guide with a jumble of historical information. This third edition of his bible for the open faced spinning reel collector has a great deal of historical information as well as the usual price guide data. This has raised the book to another level.

Over 100 companies are described in full with historical data and comments. There are over 3500 variations of spinning reels listed with price information and era of manufacture, and over 575 are included in the black and white photo gallery in the rear of the book.

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The Wright Price Guide for the Reel Man starts out with some good information on the history of open face spinning reels, and other valuable information for the collector, whether novice or experienced. I especially liked the “Anatomy of Open-Face Spinning Reels” section, with quality photographs illustrating the various names of the major parts of spinning reels. Names such as these should be standardized so that hopefully collectors will all use the same terminology when describing their reels.

This is a limited edition book of 500 copies. It is soft covered, 8 1/2 x 11 inches in size, and contains 376 pages. The book contains a good index, which is of major importance to any researcher.

The only fault I find with the book is the alphabetizing of some of the reels. I would not look for a reel with the J. C. Higgins or J. W. Young labels under “J”. However, by consulting the index this problem is easily solved.

This book is much more attractive than the first two editions, and has a lot more information. These factors should encourage any reel collector with even a casual interest in spinning reels to add it to his library. If a collector is at all interested in spinning reels, I would recommend that you purchase this book as soon as possible. I would think that with a press run of only 500 copies it will sell out rather fast. And I’m sure this book will be the spinning reel bible until the next updated version is published.

The Wright Price Guide for the Reel Man sells for $39.95 plus $5.00 priority mail shipping. The book is available from Ben Wright, PO Box 311, LeRoy, NY 14482. You can email Wright for more information or foreign shipping charges at spinrite@rochester.rr.com
SORRY, BUT THIS EDITION IS SOLD OUT.