Joe,
Could you post photos of the entire rod? That might help someone find it in a catalog. For instance,
see this earlier thread.
Usually the rod butt is tapered cork on the LL Bean/Timberline spin rods, but there aren't many photos for comparison. It's possible that someone sanded down the taper to replace the original reel rings (the catalog photo linked above implies shiny aluminum rings, not black). Perhaps a plastic butt cap popped off leaving the cork underneath discolored.
What does the
front of the rod grip look like?
I would remove the last two cork rings and replace them with large ones, then sand the new rings down to a taper again.
Tom