What have I found

[Lance]

Going through some of the boxes of miscellaneous stuff that's been sitting in my grandfather's garage since he passed away in '76 I found what I think to be a fly reel.
It's all metal construction, mount is on the side of the reel as opposed to most of the reels I have seen on the top. It also has a small lever that works like an auto-retrieve. The only writing on the reel is H-I Utica NY. It still has line in it and the retrieve still works. I'm thinking about digging out one of my dad's old fly rods and giving it a try. I'll try to get a picture of it next time I'm up to the Lake.

[Steve]

You should check out ebay's past and current auctions to see what its worth. I bet there's been one traded out there on their site before.

[trout]

The reel was made by Horrocks Ibbotson.
They started in 1812 and celebrated 150 years in 1962.

[Lance]

After searching the web for Horrocks & Ibbotson info, it seems that they were better known for rods than thier reels.
The only mention of a H-I automatic reel was someone selling one they had taken apart and couldn't get back together. Lots of posts about rods. I'll let you know if anyone gets back to me from other sites, thanks for you responses.
Lance