Hammacher, Schlemmer & co.

[NJ Marty]

Here is another cool catalog I got today. The price of the 200 is complete with vise and for an extra $20 you could get the same but all Mahogany instead of a measly maple top and the rest oak.
But you have to realize $125 in 1917 is $2317 in today's money, but still that must have been a years pay for some back then.

 

[DuroChrome]

Wow! I wonder if you could make payments like Snap-On or Mac now. Very cool!

 

[Stuart in MN]

Interesting. Hammacher Schlemmer sells mostly gimmicky overpriced stuff in their catalog today; they'd probably charge $20,000 for a setup like that.

 

[Bdgjr215]

Really cool Can you get a couple close ups of the drawings ? Very cool Though!

 

[Trevstaff]

This is my outfit #100. [/ATTACH]

 

[Trevstaff]

Always looking for original tools to complete the tool bench.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That thing is gorgeous, Trevstaff. Congratulations on owning something like that.

I almost pulled the trigger on a Hammacher-Schlemmer warehouse truck this summer. Guy would not come down into sane range. See thumbnails.

 

[Trevstaff]

That's very cool!

It's all very desirable.

 

[twertsy]

I know a basement where one of those is sitting, absolutely mint, and full of the original mint tools that came with it. I believe he was asking upwards of $10k.

 

[MShaw]

The same bench was advertised in an old Sears catalog. It was featured in the book "The tin Lizzie, the fabulous Model T" as a price comparison.

 

[dngrmse]

Very cool catalog. I wonder why they don't make fold out tool cabinets anymore, seem like a very efficient way to save space.

 

[jimreed2160]

Here is a little more history. I recently sold a pair of spool chest drawers on that famous auction site and received the following message:

Your drawers were made at the Charles Tollner & Sons factory in Pulaski NY ( just north of Syracuse NY) around 1874 through 1880. they were originally part of a two drawer set. sometimes three drawers rarely four drawers. Charles Tollner was the founder of Hammacher Schlemmer Catalog company when it was Tollner & Hammacher. He was friends with Woolworth, RH Macy, Steinway (pianos), Goodyear , Dennison and other famous men and women of the time. he died in 1897, He was an inventor with many patents. His products are still on Ebay some 120 years after his death. His woodplanes made 1857-1859 are amongst the finest pursued by many Americana Museums, Richard Tollner - Tollner Family Historian & Geneaologist

 

[Trevstaff]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Recordus]

I've always been intrigued by H-S benches and hope I run across one someday.