Just realized today I should be checking here versus the Facebook Mitchell forum. I was the lucky winner of that beautiful 1st Version reel. Wallace Carney just completed a study on it. Verified a true 1st Version!! He was so gracious and said it was truly a remarkable reel. So I do feel very fortun...

What a nice find and deal!! Sometime in 1951 3rd Version Half Bail production stopped. Then the initiation of newly patented Full Bail reels started the 4th Version. So the 1953 just slight error from your seller. From 1946-49 3rd Versions with no serial numbers just various stamps on the foot. Then...