Here a article about a Mitchell half bail.

I found the reel in my everlasting search for Mitchell reels as a collector.

The Half bail reels are always nice finds, and the one I found last week was NEVER USED.

The reel is totoaly mint, factory original as I like them.

But the reel was  "frozen in time" , the grease was so stiff the reel did not work at all.

Reel serial number B 11005  dates the reel back to 1951, so the grease has been in there 59 years.

I have cleaned the reel and took some pictures of the original grease to show what it did during the years.

The original grase, gray colored when added in the factory turned brown in the spots where it did not touch the internal parts.

The grease that did touch the brass parts as the pinon gear had become greeen, the grease in under the alluminium gear was still grey.

Here some pictures of the reel: