Craftsman Holy Grail?

[paherbert]

I recently bought a lot of old made in USA wrenches off of ebay, and with it came this 10mm craftsman V/\ (or VA) with a misprint. The thing is in perfect condition and is the only craftsman I've seen with a stamping this messed up. Is it worth anything or just a cool collectors piece?

 

[mwoj]

I would guess that it’s not worth a fortune. I think most collectors would want correctly stamped tools but maybe I’m wrong. I know some error coins are worth big money.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Mistamps on tools are not as valued as those on coins. That being said you can always ebay it and see what interests it brings

 

[Kuma601]

I'ven ot seen one like that before. Building up a set with these mistamps would be cool. Would make hunting them down a challenge, maybe fun because these would not be common.

 

[Roberts210]

Neat. Who knows how much its worth! Put in on ebay at $100 and see if some sucker buys it.

 

[Meursault74]

10mm?....................... better sell it before you lose it.

 

[wrenchr]

Not knocking the old sears craftsman tools at all but they pumped a ton of tools out through the decades so they are more common than most is my guess. I'd rather have it stamped correctly.

 

[mogandave]

Everything is worth something.

 

[Shiftless]

Back in 1955 the US Mint released a batch of pennys that were incorrectly stamped twice. They are know as double die obverse in the coin world. Good condition examples sell for about 3 grand these days.

 

[nadogail]

Does any one rember The Upside Down Airmail stamps? by now they must be Priceless.

 

[Mick56]

The VΛ series is nothing special. You can see it here in this old thread.

Craftsman Hand Tool Manufacturers & Date Ranges

Last Updated: 11/13/15 (Note-- items in red are the latest updates) Early Craftsman Series (generally pre-1947, some exceptions): A-circle = Empire, ca. 1935 -1973 B-circle = Wilde, ca. 1949-1958 BC = unknown U.S. manufacturer, ca. ? BE = New Britain, ca. 1931 - 1947 BM = S-K, ca. 1939 -...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[d42jeep]

How about the markings on the top wrench? Seems like a couple of lines are missing.
-Don

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That's a misstamp

 

[mogandave]

How about the markings on the top wrench? Seems like a couple of lines are missing.
-Don

Broken insert?

 

[genog]

I've got a Craftsman socket with it's stamp upside down.
I have seen others on occasion, like it
Not in the same league as the Inverted Jenny

So... I don't plan on getting rich with this goofy socket

 

[Zrxrunner]

My contribution to holy grails. Think theres probably a fair amount out there that go unnoticed by users.

 

[mogandave]

I think we got a ten-pack of small Armstrong combination wrenches that were not broached on the box end.

 

[bonneyman]

I've got a Craftsman socket with it's stamp upside down.
I have seen others on occasion, like it
Not in the same league as the Inverted Jenny

So... I don't plan on getting rich with this goofy socket

You'd better spend your money quick. You won't live long flying a plane like that!

 

[genog]

Don't worry bonneyman

Remember I said that I don't plan on getting rich with that goofy socket AND I can't fly a plane

 

[oldmachinenut]

I've got a Craftsman socket with it's stamp upside down.
I have seen others on occasion, like it
Not in the same league as the Inverted Jenny

So... I don't plan on getting rich with this goofy socket

I have a 3/8” drive 9/16” socket like that I bought 44 years ago in a set.

 

[genog]

I have a 3/8” drive 9/16” socket like that I bought 44 years ago in a set.

Hey
This one is 11/16 and also 3/8" drive

If you want it, it's yours
Maybe you can put together a whole set of them
Now, that would be cool!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Would be a cool set

 

[mogandave]

Would be fun to have a loaner set all marked incorrectly, each socket or wrench one size to small...

 

[Ricky Joe]

Would be fun to have a loaner set all marked incorrectly, each socket or wrench one size to small...

Easy: Whitworth!

 

[jb books]

I have this one.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/media/unfinishedwrench-2-jpg.115452/

 

[craftsman creep]

Is it still for sale

 

[AntiqueBen]

I picked up this very odd Craftsman pipe wrench. I had to look twice when I saw this. Seems like an odd design for Craftsman. Cool handle though. I can only find this in one Sears catalog in 1945. Did Craftsman only make this one year?? Hoping one of you Craftsman buffs can shed some light on this one. Could this be Craftsman's rarest tool??

 

[Meursault74]

I picked up this very odd Craftsman pipe wrench. I had to look twice when I saw this. Seems like an odd design for Craftsman. Cool handle though. I can only find this in one Sears catalog in 1945. Did Craftsman only make this one year?? Hoping one of you Craftsman buffs can shed some light on this one. Could this be Craftsman's rarest tool??

I'm curious as well. 1945 pipe wrench seems odd. Wouldn't most of those have been rounded up for the war effort and melted or not been manufactured at that time as manufacturing had other priorities?

$3.50 in 1945 is about $60 today.

 

[AntiqueBen]

I thought the same thing. The add says it's an iron body & handle and the jaws are forged tempered steel. Iron bodies on pipe wrenches, especially for this era, seems different. Everything about this thing just seems odd, especially for Craftsman. I can't find a patent for it either. I think it might have been a "one-off." Would like to know how many they produced (couldn't have been many) and how long it was offered. As of now, only looks like 1945.

 

[AntiqueBen]

I also ran across these "easy action" Craftsman locking pliers (vise grips). They are marked "PAT. APLD. FOR" without the "Lever Jaw" marking & the USA marked in a different spot than usual. The set screw on the handle is interesting too. I don't see any of these on AA. I'm curious, are these Craftsman's first version of these? And what year would these have come out? I can't find any good info online about these. I'm sure it's out there somewhere. These things were so dirty you couldn't read the writing when I got them. I was pleasantly surprised to see this after a few minutes on the wire wheel. Any info is appreciated.

 

[PSCo1867]

I picked up this very odd Craftsman pipe wrench. I had to look twice when I saw this. Seems like an odd design for Craftsman. Cool handle though. I can only find this in one Sears catalog in 1945. Did Craftsman only make this one year?? Hoping one of you Craftsman buffs can shed some light on this one. Could this be Craftsman's rarest tool??

Another one of these has popped up on EBAY.

 

[z28lsc]

How about this red T15 handle with Phillips end.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I missed this discussion from last summer until now, when @PSCo1867 bumped the thread.

Seems like an odd design for Craftsman.

Not sure what you mean by "for Craftsman"; it's an odd design for any brand. By intent, no? They were obviously going for different. It's all kinds of unique. Not only have they put the floating jaw inside the body of the wrench, but the screw is round, like a monkey wrench.

I can't find a patent for it either.

I don't know where or how you're looking, but if you didn't know it, Erie was their OEM in this era, for the pattern popularized by Ridge (shown to the left of the oddball in the Sears catalog) and the Stillson pattern (shown to the right of the oddball in the Sears catalog). You may see references to Nye, but Erie was Nye's OEM as well. Not saying Erie designed your oddball pipe wrench. Just that it's one lead to follow.

 

[AntiqueBen]

Another one of these has popped up on EBAY.

I don't see these pop up very often. If your interested, better jump on it. Who knows if & when another one will surface again. Very unique.

 

[Ricky Joe]

You'd better spend your money quick. You won't live long flying a plane like that!

So long as you don’t land it like that, you should be fine.

 

[PSCo1867]

I don't see these pop up very often. If your interested, better jump on it. Who knows if & when another one will surface again. Very unique.

Well, that disappeared quickly. At least I secured a good photo of it. Maybe it will be formally re-presented on GJ

 

[Ricky Joe]

I'm curious as well. 1945 pipe wrench seems odd. Wouldn't most of those have been rounded up for the war effort and melted or not been manufactured at that time as manufacturing had other priorities?

$3.50 in 1945 is about $60 today.

The war effort had a huge surplus by 1945. The dearth years were 1942-43. After that, the shortages were mostly on paper, to avoid what was called reconversion at the time, which was the ability to convert wartime production back to civilian production, or, more exactly, to allow sales to be made to the civilian market. This was mostly done because some of the invested companies did not want some industries to get a head start on the pent up demand for products, and also to keep the population from relaxing in the war effort. As it was, 5-10% of the population was against the war to start with. To keep fear at a fever pitch, it was necessary that the illusion of necessity be kept.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The idea that everything went to the military during WWII is a fallacy. At no time was commercial tool production banned, not even during the steel drive years, which were voluntary, and aimed at old, unused tools. The WPB restricted alloys and limited the types of tools that could be made, to eliminate redundancy, which conserved steel. All the major mfgrs published catalogs for commercial sales during wartime. Other sectors (railroad, oil, agriculture, manufacturing, etc) still needed tools. As a good exemplar of just how big the market was, charts in Snap-on's 50th anniversary stakeholder meeting book, famous in the collecting community, showed that commercial sales dwarfed their military sales during WWII.

 

[bonneyman]

So long as you don’t land it like that, you should be fine.

You should be fine if you land south of the equator.