For sale here is a 1920's vintage 4 1/2" caged spool fly reel made by WH Dingley for retailer Alex Martin. This highly sought after brass pin caged reel has an adjustable caliper check, the flat spring of which has been replaced at some point. Due to this repair, the tensioner (with nice strap feature) has to be tightened all of the way in order for the pawl to engage the teeth of the gear/cog. It is adequately strong at that setting though. Stamped D1 on the frame and the foot. Correct original and un-filed smooth brass foot. Original ivorine handle spins freely. There is a tiny amount of end play as you will find in 95% of these reels, but definitely not enough to require repair. No spool wobble. As with most leaded Dingleys, the majority of the original leading remains on the reel.

This remains a very nice and fishable big Dingley at a price substantially below my cost (as is fairly typical, the replacement spring wasn't disclosed in the auction).