Plomb tool chest

[Oldtuleguy]

Found this on the offerup today.

 

[DadsTools]

Found this on the offerup today.

Cool!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Any ideas on the age of this thing?

 

[bmwrd0]

From the logo I would say pre-war, but someone can correct me. I have the same one, but red with the logo just before Proto.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That is what I suspect, but I am not a plomb expert

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Paint is like a green wrinkle finish if that helps

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That's a very unusual box. The boxes were black (early 30's) and then red (late 30's) prior to the war, green during the war. And that decal is wartime. But the box itself - with the PLOMB TOOL CO LOS ANGELES (all round "O"s) embossed in the lid - was made before 1934. More typical wartime boxes have PLVMB TVVL CV LVS ANGELES embossed in the lid. I suspect it was leftover new old stock in c. 1941 when they were putting a master wrench set together.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

So earlier box sold later?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That's what it looks like to me. That's the only explanation I can think of. The embossing is clearly early 1930's. But the finish and the decal are not. I don't know if Plomb made their own boxes or had them supplied. It had to be sitting around somewhere.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Did they use a wrinkle paint? Maybe someone repainted it

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I've seen smooth and rough, not wrinkled. I do have some similar boxes (round embossed O's, stylized in decals) in my photos. One green, one red.

 

[d42jeep]

It seems like Plomb often used earlier boxes when putting together their sets. The decal makes me think late ‘30s or early ‘40s. My unmolested ‘39 set has round Os.
-Don

 

[DD T/A]

Wrinkle paint appears to be particularly popular with tool chest manufacturers back then.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I have seen these branding mismatches before (first remarking on a midget set that Gordon on the G owns with a PLOMB box and PLVMB tools in it), but I agree, Don, it does look like it's more common (or at least less unusual) than I originally thought. And your unmolested Challenger 5200Y set is a great benchmark for the case, since we know for sure it isn't any older than 1939.

As I surmised briefly above, I imagine they had them stacked up somewhere and they just drew from that stockpile when they were putting sets together. And it seems evident that their production of (or order for) chests and boxes exceeded the number of sets they were selling. At some point in the late 30's and into the 40's, they were filling the boxes with tools and sticking decals on the lids that were much newer than the boxes. So it must've been quite a big stockpile!

(EDIT: This is tangential, for WWII guys, but it may also help date the sets in PLVMB TVVL CV LVS ANGELES boxes to mid to late war, and the sets in PLOMB TOOL CO LOS ANGELES boxes to early war. Since the directive in the factory probably would've been to use up the old boxes first until the stock was depleted.)

 

[twertsy]

I swear I posted earlier, but it's gone? Anyway, from what I've seen, I don't believe the box transition to the triangle O followed the same timeline as the tool transition. I'd suggest the boxes didn't transition fully until closer to 1940. Maybe they had tons of stock, or the box vendor wanted too much for the change, who knows.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I swear I posted earlier, but it's gone?

Same thing happened to me last night, same thread.

I think we're saying what amounts to the same thing, Todd, no?

 

[twertsy]

Same thing happened to me last night, same thread.

I think we're saying what amounts to the same thing, Todd, no?

Yup, positive reinforcement....

 

[d42jeep]

They must not have had as large a box overstock on the 1/4" drive sets because even though the stickers are very similar the 1/4" box is marked PL∇MB.
-Don

 

[twertsy]

They must not have had as large a box overstock on the 1/4" drive sets because even though the stickers are very similar the 1/4" box is marked PL∇MB.
-Don

Yeah, I have a healthy mix of round and triangle O 1/4" and 9/32" drive boxes. I'm guessing, but I'd say 50/50 in 10 or so sets.

 

[d42jeep]

I think that's about right. The rounded corner box on the top has the round Os and the square corner boxes don't.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Yup, positive reinforcement....

Thanks. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing a distinction.

Yeah, I have a healthy mix of round and triangle O 1/4" and 9/32" drive boxes. I'm guessing, but I'd say 50/50 in 10 or so sets.

I was going to say I've seen/had both but not enough for a good sample size. Leave it to Todd for a more statistically relevant sample size!

The rounded corner box on the top has the round Os and the square corner boxes don't.

Hmm. Interesting. I wonder if that (the corners matching the font style, which I never took notice to before) was intentional by design or inadvertent.

 

[d42jeep]

I've had both fonts in the round corner 1/4" boxes so that's not consistent. Even Plomb couldn't make up their minds. Here are two images from two almost identical sets in the '40 catalog.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Yeah, that's them re-using old images, and an artist's rendering, because even when they went to the triangular O's in the so-called "U.S.A." marking period (1939-1945) they still kept the Los Angeles on the boxes, which people confuse with the so-called "Los-Angeles" marking period (1934-1938).

 

[Oldtuleguy]

It seems to be quite a can of worms.

 

[d42jeep]

I have to revise my statement upthread. All of my 1/4" drive boxes are marked PL∇MB. Maybe Twertsy can post some 1/4" boxes with the round O.
-Don

 

[Moe_Hushlin]

That box would be stationed in my living room....front and center....on the coffee table lol. So sweet! How heavy is that mother?

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[Oldtuleguy]

Not real heavy. 15 lbs ? Maybe

 

[Smokeshow69]

Not real heavy. 15 lbs ? Maybe

My proto Los Angeles version weighs about 29lbs per the catalog... Wonder how much this one weighs


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[Oldtuleguy]

Probably about the same, have not weighed it

 

[Moe_Hushlin]

Most Proto roll cabs I have encountered weighed damn near what a snappy would dial in at...just thought the smaller hand boxes and top boxes would be similar. Maybe the period is why....I just expected it to be more than 30lbs. I don't know the dimensions either so my logic may be skewed.



At any rate, super jelly of the box, that thing is a beauty!

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