I was doing some research completely irrelevant to Plomb, or even Army surplus, when I stumbled on this irresistible
Fresno Bee ad from 1952.
While I have been lucky enough to find a couple vintage tools at a fairly famous Army surplus store here in NJ called "Armies of the Past", that '
I was born at the wrong time in the wrong place' feeling I got reading this ad was enough to make a grown man cry!
The Snap-on guys won't be happy to see that Plomb was cited first, and the Blackhawk, Bonney, Williams, and other guys really won't be happy to see that they are relegated to an "etc.". [emoji38] But as a random subjective peephole into the past, it's fairly accurate. I also found it interesting that in October 1952 the copywriter used the company name (Plomb) being phased out, rather than the brand name (Proto) the Plomb peeps had been on an all-out nation-wide campaign to promote.
By the way, if you're wondering, the 47-piece socket sets they were selling (for $10!) were combination 1/2- and 3/8-inch drive, with deeps and swivels.