A wonderful find, but what is it?

[Tomorrowland@72]

A good friend and client gave me her deceased husbands fishing tackle, and to my surprise I came across an old Mitchell reel, and 6 extra spools
and cases. The only marking on it are the Mitchell name but NO model number, made in France stamped on the other side and a serial #204874.
Any help?

ps I did take in and had it cleaned and serviced.

[piscesman]

Congratulations, and Welcome to the site. Without pictures positive ID may be difficult. 1/2 bail or full bail. Number under foot or on body opposite handle? Chevron anti-reverse metal handle knob or black plastic one? Pictures would help. No more than 800 megapixels.
Kim

[Tomorrowland@72]

Thank you for the Welcome.
Serial number is on opposite side of handle.

[jtwill98]

That is a nice find.
It is an early Mitchell (300) reel before the "300" was added to the engraving.
My best guess is it was made in 1953-54 time frame.

[GreatLaker]

Tomorrowland@72,
Welcome
I agree with Kim and I see you posted a photo. Thank You!! It makes it so much easier for us and we love looking at these reels, especially the 4th version reels.
I also agree with Jtwill98 on the date. If you could post a photo of the opposite side of your reel, then we can probably add some more information about it if you are interested. Some of these reels (4th Version Mitchell's) are quite rare. Wallace Carney coined the term Pilot Reels to describe these reels and they have unique features from other 4th version reels. In order for us to tell we would need to see an image of the baffle plate and the insides of the rotating head with the baffle plate removed.
Kind Regards,
Bill