{"product_id":"garcia-mitchell-304-spinning-reel-left-hand-retrieve-made-in-france-by-carpano-pons-black-enamel-with-half-bail-and-original-crank","title":"Garcia Mitchell 304 Spinning Reel, Left-Hand Retrieve, Made in France by Carpano \u0026 Pons, Black Enamel with Half Bail and Original Crank","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA Mitchell 304 spinning reel in black enamel, with the maker's name printed across the sideplate in silver script.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe sideplate reads Garcia above, Mitchell in script beneath it, and 304 turned on its side below that. Four slotted screws hold the plate to the body.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe spool is the shape Mitchell made famous — a shallow open cup capped by a black cone with radial fins moulded into it, which is the drag knob and the spool release in one. There is green line still wound on it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA heavy chromed half bail arcs over the spool on a pivot, with the line roller set at its foot.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe crank is a straight polished arm with a black teardrop knob at one end and a chromed ball at the shaft, and it turns on the left, which is what the model number means.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe body carries a Made in France marking, and the reel stands on the flat T-shaped foot that clamps into a rod seat.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is one of the most consequential reel designs of the twentieth century, and the 304 is its left-handed sibling.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMitchell reels were built in France by Carpano \u0026amp; Pons, an engineering firm at Cluses in the Haute-Savoie, in the valley that has made precision mechanisms — watches, then components — since the eighteenth century. The 300-series fixed-spool reel that came out of that factory did more to put spinning tackle into ordinary hands than any other single product, and Mitchell went on producing in France into the late 1980s.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Garcia name on the sideplate is the American half of the story. Garcia imported Mitchell into the United States from the late 1940s, and for a long stretch the reels reached American anglers as Garcia Mitchells — a French mechanism under a New Jersey importer's name. A sideplate printed with both names places this reel in that import era rather than before or after it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 304 itself is the left-hand-retrieve model, and that is the whole point of the number. A right-handed angler holding the rod in the right hand wants to crank with the left, and for most of the century the tackle industry simply did not build for that. Mitchell did, as a catalogued model rather than a special order, which is why left-hand examples survive in far smaller numbers than the standard 300.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDated on the Garcia-branded sideplate and the French manufacture: c. 1960–1980.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eOpen-face spinning reel, black enamel over metal\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eModel\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMitchell 304 — the left-hand-retrieve model of the 300 series\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDimensions\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eApproximately 6 in across the crank, 4½ in tall\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eConstruction\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMetal body and sideplate secured by four slotted screws; shallow open spool with a finned conical drag cap; chromed half bail on a pivot with line roller; straight polished crank arm with a black teardrop knob; flat T-shaped mounting foot\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePrinted to the sideplate in silver: Garcia · Mitchell · 304. Made in France marking to the body.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMaker\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBuilt in France by Carpano \u0026amp; Pons of Cluses, Haute-Savoie; imported to the United States by Garcia\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ec. 1960–1980, on the Garcia-branded sideplate and the French manufacture\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eGood working order and complete. The crank turns, the bail swings and returns on its pivot, and the line roller is present and free. The sideplate printing is fully legible and all four screws are in place. The black enamel is worn through to bright metal along the rim of the spool and on the high edges of the body, with scattered scuffing overall — the finish of a reel that was fished rather than shelved. A length of old monofilament is wound loose around the body and the original green line remains on the spool; both can be stripped off in a minute. No cracks, no missing parts, no repairs. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eBuy this one for the name on the plate, because among people who fish it is the name that matters.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Mitchell 300 series is the reel a very large number of American anglers learned on, and a sideplate reading Garcia Mitchell is recognised instantly by anyone who did. That recognition is the whole value of the object as a gift, and it is not something a generic vintage reel can manufacture.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe left-hand retrieve makes it the harder one to find. Most surviving Mitchells are the standard 300. Anyone who actually cranks left, and anyone assembling a set, is looking for this number specifically.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is also a genuinely handsome mechanical object. Black enamel worn through to bright metal on every edge a hand touched, a heavy chromed bail, a polished crank, and a spool cap with fins moulded into it like something off a car of the same decade. On a shelf among books, in a cabin, on a desk, it reads as engineering rather than decoration.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd it still works. This is not a display piece that has been retired — the crank turns, the bail closes, and with fresh line on the spool it would fish tomorrow.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt belongs with the things it came from: a creel, a landing net, a tin of flies, an old rod on a wall. One reel anchors that group, and a Mitchell anchors it better than anything else at the price.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA note on care. Take the old line off before you store it. Monofilament left under tension for decades goes stiff, and it can set a groove into a spool lip.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePut a drop of light reel oil on the crank shaft and the bail pivot rather than a heavy grease, and work it in by turning the handle. Heavy grease in a cold reel drags.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDo not strip the enamel or repaint it. The wear pattern is the record of how it was used, and a repainted Mitchell is worth less than a worn one to everybody who wants one.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKeep it dry. The body is metal and the finish is already open in places, so a damp drawer is the one thing that will take it from worn to pitted.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48048742629481,"sku":"VE-0776","price":125.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/17192CA6-A8F2-47F0-98F8-4653B2FA5235.jpg?v=1789323256","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/garcia-mitchell-304-spinning-reel-left-hand-retrieve-made-in-france-by-carpano-pons-black-enamel-with-half-bail-and-original-crank","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}