Princess Century 100-A versions

[salmonfishing]

We know that Johnson in an effort to quickly get to market on a Princess reel took a Century 100-A, painted it pink and put the name Princess on the front cover. The ones I have seen until now have the name Princess painted on the front cover. I recently came across a Princess Century 100-A reel that had the Princess name stamped on the front cover rather than painted. So a second version of the original Princess reel. So which one came first? I am guessing the one with the name stamped on the front cover. To me that would be a quicker way to get to market. And the cover with the painted name is much nicer and fancier looking so it probably came very shortly after the stamped cover one. And then the step up was to the Princess 100AP which was even fancier looking. And finally the Princess 100BP.  And with the later versions it looks like they improved the quality of the pink paint used. A deeper pink. Not so faded and not so prone to coming off.

[Skip Smith]

Sounds like you have a handle on the progression of the Princess models, Chuck.  Your description matches up with my catalog collection.

[salmonfishing]

Skip, do you have a catalog that has a pic of the Princess with the name stamped on the cover rather than painted?
Chuck

[Skip Smith]

Chuck, the only catalog I have that shows a Princess with the name on the front cover is a black/white photocopy of the '59 issue.  The copy was made in the late 80's  and doesn't have high-enough resolution to say whether it's stamped or painted.  I don't think there was a separate schemmy for Princess, since it was a Century in a prom dress, but I'll scratch through 'em and see.
Skip

[salmonfishing]

Thanks, Skip. I saw the '59 catalog and was hoping you had an older catalog. Based on the size of the lettering, I am guessing they are depicting the painted name version. I noticed they also called it a Model 100AP. But the picture shows a flat button like on the 100-A. The 100AP had a sculpted button and no name on the front cover as displayed in the 100AP owner docs and on the actual reel. I also have two Princess  reel boxes which both state a model 100-A. One box has the name on the reel front cover and the other one has no name on it. The no name box also has a crown pictured on it as well as the name Century. So I am guessing it is maybe the first box Johnson used to market the Princess reel. And the artist either forgot or didn't know to include the name on the reel front cover. Johnson was in such a hurry it appears to get this pink reel out to market they kind of mixed what they were using for pics and model numbers on boxes and docs. It would be fun to find some material with the stamped smaller letter size Princess reel front cover on it but an guessing that will be hard to do!

[Skip Smith]

I think you're right on, Chuck.  It seems like things got a bit chaotic at times, what with the competitive nature of business in the 1950's.  Kind of like the lowest-price war that Ford and Chevy got into that scuttled several independent car-makers of the time.
Johnson seemed to make changes/improvements during a model run without any announcement or corresponding change in ID.  Keeps me talking to myself....

[salmonfishing]

I just obtained another Princess 100-A. It was inexpensive and had some differences from my current two. In the pics, the one on the left is the earliest 100-A I have with the stamped front cover and the one on the right is the latest one I have with the Princess name painted on rather than stamped. The one just acquired is in the middle. It still has the name stamped on the front cover. The obvious difference between it and the other two is that the drag dial is black plastic rather than a metal one. I can’t imagine why someone would replace a metal dial with a plastic one. How would you break or mess up a metal one requiring it to be replaced? Another difference is if you look on the name side plate, specifically at the stamped “100-A”, it is positioned slightly different than on the two end ones. The end ones are very close to the clicker rivet and the one in the middle is a bit further up the plate. Maybe it is just a one off or a different stamping machine was used. And the middle one uses the same drag disk setup as the one on the right unlike the drag disk setup on the left which requires a clip to hold the line spool in. So another head scratcher for me anyway!

[Huckster37]

Maybe someone took the front cover and side plates from a princess and put them on a original Century. If they had a Princess with internal issues obviously they could sell a pink Century for more than a green one.

[salmonfishing]

You could be right Dennis. Seller told me it came from a storage unit he had bought and that it looked to him to have new line on it. The line is pretty old so don't think he switched anything. So maybe who owned the storage unit did something. But you would have thought if they were going to switch front cover and plates, that they would have been smart enough to also switch the drag dial plate. Anyway, I cleaned it up inside am reselling. Or I might give it to another Granddaughter!