...The colour.

 

From what I understand the difference is that the bright face spools are older than the dark face spools.

 

WILD BILL,

I like your answer but also the style of joke you do!

Whammo!

 

Savidamelie, your avitar... is that you or an axe murder? That thing looks super creepy.

 

As posted the silver faced spools came first followed by the dark face ones don,t know why the change though

 

the silver faced spools came first followed by the dark face ones

correct - for Made in England Salmons - silver first, then black. Now silver from Asia.

what's funny to me is Green Butt's comment regarding the heightened demand for the black spools. Maybe 10-15 years ago, the original silver spools were more sought after, being older and more vintage. Now with the silver Asian spools widely available, the old black is more sought after. Humans sure display some goofy tendencies in their quest for material authenticity and uniqueness ... I wish I was immune myself.

 

Penny pinching is the answer...

I believe that the dark faced spools were cheaper to produce - less polishing of the casting required. Only the rim had to be polished. The last spools produced in the UK for these reels were completely painted, no polished rim.

 

I've owned a few of these reels over the years and as I understand there were black and silver spools made back in the days of production in the UK. The Marquis 9/10/11 --almost identical to the Salmon #2--had painted black spools. There was no polished rim and these spools do not interchange with the Salmon #2. The new generation of Marquis Salmon reels from Korea are offered only in the silver spools. The black spools for the Salmon series are higher in demand and seem to go at a higher price. Wish I had kept all my old Marquis. These are great reels for steelheading.

 

I've read that once other manufacturors were able to start producing nockoffs Hardy began to change up spool colours so their reels would visually stand appart.

My System 10 below. The dark grey spool is most recent english production other than the limited build Miramichi, Humber, and Margaree reels.

 

There is another difference...

There is another difference, based on age rather than colour. On the oldest spools, the gear on the back is pinned to the spool, and there is a brass bushing that bears on the spindle. Newer spools lost the pins, and the Korean spools lost the bushing.