Record and ABU Accessories
Old Record / ABU Reel Cases/Boxes
I break this down to cardboard boxing and cases of varying material
First A.B.Urfabriken reels were Records...
The first Record box I saw was actually plain blue and white in colour, hand-written model name 1600.
The next different type of box came to my knowledge by a Finnish guy called Mika.
He kindly shared this blue box with printed 1300 label.
The next more common Record boxes
These ranged from the early 1940's, mainly blue label Record
boxes.
The three Record-labelled boxes above, are labelled in English and Swedish, and the cardboard box colours varied slightly in hue, with the main difference being in the later white outlined red-label font.
I do not yet have
the Blue or Green Sea Grass type box to display. Perhaps someone can
help me acquire these.
The most common boxes were the relatively plain blue ones at bottom
right of the picture above.
This special 2000 with 10 year warranty, was wooden boxed with velvet lining and square leather , silver buckle style case respectively. Later the colourful, advertizing covered cardboard box outers contained protective leather, leatherette and vinyl cases to hold the reel and accessories like oil bottle, grease, spanner. This Record 2100 Sport had a case with a metal partition.
I will document below by photographs the cases that I own as they appeared over time. Record Ambassadeur Case Style 1 with Silver buckle
Record Ambassadeur Case Style 2 with Silver buckle It did appear for a short time with Ambassadeur written in gold cursive script, above the buckle on the flat ( I do not have this example and would love to acquire one)
Ambassadeur Sweden Case Style 3 This is the common style found in the 60's Ambassadeur Sweden Case Style 4 This is the 4th issue, note the 'of' Sweden Usually this model is found with Gold buckle so the older style silver buckle is very rare in this issue. Like many ABU products, if parts were usable, they were never wasted. Ambassadeur Sweden Case Style 5 This last style pure-leather case has the Royal Symbol on top of the case. It was being phased out (but still used) over a short period in 1971 when the cheaper black leatherette were being introduced. A move away from quality as leathette case cracked with constant usage.
Ambassadeur Leatherette Case Style Still with gold buckle and Royal symbol but mock leather case
Missing the 2nd Black leatherette case (with roll over rather than bent) which has push-button clips Ambassadeur Leatherette Case style This one has block Ambassadeur font with ABU in gold print, still with push button clips. |
NON Ambassadeur Reels
A special leather box was made for the Abumatic 60.
A Record 600 Spinning reel and soft vinyl case.
A vinyl zippered fly reel case was mase for the first Record Fly reels.
Eventually, having so many reels, and a penchant to enjoy them by seeing and touching, I discovered that there was huge variety in the box packaging of yesteryear compared to the awful plastic sealed bubble boxes , convenient to today's chain store sales! So I just hung them in an old bait net from the ceiling of my room.
The
bottom left hand box was a test "mock up" called the "Morrum
Cardinal". This reel was released eventually as the Suverian so this
box is a "one-off production" example which was never sold to my
knowledge. Interesting to see how, not only packaging can be changed
at the last moment, but also the actual model name. Image seen
elsewhere on site, spinning reels
Many more interesting observations and images of unusual ABU packaging to come here in time.
Some prototype boxes to be added in future too!