1953 Proto in Hardware Catalog (+Handguns)

[Bolster]

Hello all, I haven't checked in for awhile, but I'm still interested in Plomb & Proto. Thought I'd share images from a 1953 Harper & Reynolds hardware catalog featuring Proto. I also imaged the section on handguns, just for fun. Hope it will attach. File is 18 MB.

 

[Dave455]

Are you taking orders?

I’ll have a set of Flare nut wrenches,


and a complete “Rotomat Toolmart”!


Disappointed there are no revolvers bigger than . 38, but for the money I’ll have a Model 14 (K38)! Oh, and a $65 1911!

 

[natas2000]

$65-75 for a handgun in '53 sounds high, Looked up median US household income was only $4,410.

 

[Dave455]

$65-75 for a handgun in '53 sounds high, Looked up median US household income was only $4,410.

The reality is that good tools, and good firearms, have always been relatively expensive.

Only in recent times has there been good availability of inexpensive tools, and relatively inexpensive firearms.

I’m not that old, but if I think back to my youth there were no really cheap tools. Some were better than others, sure, but there was nothing cheap.

The problem now, is that a whole generation have got used to being able to source cheap tools. When they find good ones, at the price they have to be, folks think they are being ripped off!

Same with those handguns. The Colt’s / S &W’s being sold there are way higher quality than the most popular handguns being sold in the U.S. today.

 

[Bolster]

Are you taking orders?

I’ll have a set of Flare nut wrenches,...for the money I’ll have a Model 14 (K38)! ...

I'm sorry my stock is so low at the moment--all I can supply you with are the flare nut wrenches and a pre-14 K38. Let's see, by 1958 prices, you owe me, oh, with the volume discount, let's just round it off to $85.