i decided that since i had such good luck at the pawn shop last tuesday, i would try again today. as luck would have it i made some decent finds. they had a new guy working the register and so i made it out the door for only $13.34.
been doing a little research and found that the original Adjust-a-Box was designed and patented by a company called Neff on Oct. 14, 1957. it was meant to rival for the Cresent wrench but didn't become popular among users and was phazed out of production. mine doesn't say Neff anywhere on it, but due to the design and the Adjust-a-Box stamp i'm thinking it might be an original. That's about all i know about it.