0ld Stanley level with Penny in it

[Ruthie61]

Hello! I stumbled upon this thted when I was trying to find examples of old Stanley levels that had pennies inserted in them. Found out it was kind of a novelty and then I found this site and thought I might try to find out how old the level was. The first post I read was someone giving all this beautiful detail about someone's Stanley level and it actually made me tear up. I just love people that appreciate old things. The penny inserted in this one is dated 1961, the year I was born and it had been at our family cabin for 75 years since my grandfather and my father built it. My hunch is the level came from my grandfather who was in Illinois farmer who built houses in the winter and he played a big role the construction and planning of our primitive Colorado cabin. I am an ardent collector old things and I have a lot of old tools, some of which I've had to find out what they were. Some are farming tools and kitchen tools so they might not be relevant on this thread. Anyway, I'm new to this and I will try to post some pictures, I apologize that they're not real good, but if anyone would know anything about this "model 0" level I would love to have an idea how old it is. It does not have a patent number on it anywhere which could indicate it's old or newer. Thanks again for allowing a newbie to post here and hopefully I'll get to know the website better and be a little more concise in what I write. I really appreciate what good shape this level is in as my father took such good care of his tools. He served in world War II and I remember early gardening experiences with him, how he taught me to clean the shovels really well with the hose before putting them away and he taught me to use hand drills and all kinds of fun things in the '60s. Thanks again, Ruth

 

[RTM]

The Model 0 shows up in this 1953 catalog, but it appears to have the wrong label on it.

Stanley Tools Catalog No. 34 : 1953 Edition : Stanley Tools Division : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

218 p., illus., 17.4 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

That stamped gold label on the level is “newer”, meaning mid to late 20th century.

Here it is in 1949

Stanley Tools Catalog No. 34 : 1949 Edition : Stanley Tools Division : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

217 p., illus., 17.6 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

You can poke around here to try to find a pic w the right label.

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

archive.org

 

[RTM]

And, I’ve never seen a level with a penny there. That could indicate when they replaced the plomb vial.

 

[gahrajmahal]

Thanks for telling about your levels history. It’s very interesting. I’ve never seen one with a penny in it. We found two old wooden planes in my mother-in-laws house that had the previous (original?) owners names carved into them.

 

[crguy]

The model O was made from 1859 to 1974. The trademark on yours came out in 1936. Neither the penny or the hang hole are original.

 

[RTM]

The model O was made from 1859 to 1974

Thanks, I forgot my Walters would have that bit. I had no clue on the logo. Let's see, out of 115 years of production, my mid to late 20th century was what, 20% off?

 

[Ruthie61]

Thanks for telling about your levels history. It’s very interesting. I’ve never seen one with a penny in it. We found two old wooden planes in my mother-in-laws house that had the previous (original?) owners names carved into them.

I started searching around on the internet for levels with pennies in them and came upon a Post that said Carpenters would sometimes do that to commemorate a special date. Meant a lot to me to find my dad's level with with my birth year Penny in it. He was a world war II vet and sometimes fairly quiet. Nice sentimental find for me. Makes sense that this model was possibly early '50s as that's when he and my grandfather started building our cabin. I came along in 61.

 

[Ruthie61]

The model O was made from 1859 to 1974. The trademark on yours came out in 1936. Neither the penny or the hang hole are original.

I searched on the internet for for vintage Stanley levels with pennies in them and found a story about how Carpenters would sometimes commemorate a special date by doing that. Makes sense this would be a possible 30s model. My grandfather was building houses during the winter when he wasn't farming. He brought out a lot of stuff to Colorado when he and my father built our cabin in the '50s. Thank you for your response.

 

[crguy]

I searched on the internet for for vintage Stanley levels with pennies in them and found a story about how Carpenters would sometimes commemorate a special date by doing that. Makes sense this would be a possible 30s model. My grandfather was building houses during the winter when he wasn't farming. He brought out a lot of stuff to Colorado when he and my father built our cabin in the '50s. Thank you for your response.

I have my doubts about that, it wasn't a simple thing to do. I know it was done sometimes when the plumb vial was replaced. The original thin brass disc that was there was usually damaged in the process of removing it to get the vial out. A penny would have been more readily available than a replacement factory disc.

 

[toolmiser]

Anyone have an idea how to refill one of the vials on one of these old stanley's? I have a 12 inch one that has a dry vial. Anyone every refill one? Process please.

 

[RTM]

Buy new old stock if you can find it, I think they are heat sealed.