info on vintage reel

Question
yes sir ...the other day at flea market found this old ted williams 403 baitcasting reel ..for 5 bucks...and then saw this old heddon rod there also for five bucks... cant seem to find any info....on internet...maybe u can help...thanks from mark ...im 55 now and remember my dad had something like this....when i was kid ...there was only baitcasting style reels at that time with braid line ...before mono was coming of time..now braid is popular....its crazy...but good

Answer
Morning Mark!
Good name you have there! Boy, after getting back into the Q&A it looks like I will have to focus more on antique gear! That's ok, I love this stuff!

As for the reel, Ted Williams being a very popular baseball player in his time and a legend now, was very good at marketing his "brand". He was also a very avid angler and hunter...the all-around sportsman. Mr. Williams had major endorsement deals with lots of companies but mainly Sears and Roebuck. (Later he also endorsed products for J.C. Penny as well). The 403 if I recall, was produced for Sears Roebuck and was a knuckle buster, meaning the spool and level-wind would spin as you made the cast. I will do some additional research and see what I come up with. The line, if it is multi-stranded linen, may well be VERY valuable. It was very brittle when dry but very strong when wet. Clubs like the Avalon Tuna Club on Catalina Island , California, actually still compete in tournaments using traditional linen, split cane rods and era specific reels! The line weight was determined by the number of strands the linen had and basically equaled 2lbs. of strength per strand. If it is dacron, it is novel but not really worth all that much. Some lines from the orient were also made of silk but I have little information on them.

I will need to find a Sears catalogue from the 50's...might get lucky to gather some additional info on your reel! As for the rod? Model numbers and overall condition will dictate its worth. Heddon made huge numbers of rods, reels and lures including split cane flyrods that I love. I still get a thrill out of picking up unusual rod designs or antiques in pristine condition.

A great source of websites are listed on Joeyates.com. He is a collector that made many of his resources available to the public. I believe there was an organization known as the Antique Tackle Collector's Guild but they seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

I hope that gives you a start on Identifying your find! I will be diggin up some more resources to better serve the antique collectors. Thanks very much for your question.