Spreading the Bonney affliction!

[Oldtuleguy]

Took me a minute to figure out this dayton was bonney sourced. Looked initially like sk, but innards are different.

 

[chstrumpetdude]

Just saw this on my fb marketplace. "Nash Drive Pinion Shaft Nut" SE-270 wrench.

Pretty old forge mark.

 

[LesserSon]

flipside is blank

Hmmm...so now I could see it being EV(May1944) or AS(Jan1941). The date code may simply be too worn to be certain, but the overall style seems to me to be war-time or earlier, and apparently, to Lugz it did not.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Hmmm...so now I could see it being EV(May1944) or AS(Jan1941). The date code may simply be too worn to be certain, but the overall style seems to me to be war-time or earlier, and apparently, to Lugz it did not.

Based mainly on the model number and the chart I developed attached to this post, here, which shows no 2880 wrench in a catalog prior to 1946. But, that could be because of lack of catalogs during wartime (introduced earlier, without a catalog ref), and, as I said in that post, their terminology and model numbers for starter, manifold, and starter-manifold wrenches was very erratic.

 

[outofbounds]

Curious about this box I saw on FB for sale. She claims as "20s-30s" Do the Bonney experts here agree? Also I'm concerned that the lock is a PO add-on. I have requested her best price for the box & contents, and better pics of the sockets, 20 of which she is claiming as period Bonney. Any guidance on fair market on the box alone? (I can navigate the other material shooting from the hip)

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Tough to find box. I would grab it if not too pricey. That looks kinda 1940ish

 

[outofbounds]

She wants $125 take all.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Wow. Nice box! Very uncommon/rare. That decal is late 1930's to 1947.

 

[LesserSon]

Based mainly on...no 2880 wrench in a catalog prior to 1946. But, that could be because of lack of catalogs during wartime (introduced earlier, without a catalog ref), and, as I said in that post, their terminology and model numbers for starter, manifold, and starter-manifold wrenches was very erratic.

Amen! I also find no 2880 in those cats, but the regular appearance of 2881 (often shown on two separate pages) leads me to conclude the 2880 was available, maybe just less popular. It just doesn’t make sense for there to be a 2881 but no 2880.

 

[LesserSon]

Curious about this box I saw on FB for sale. She claims as "20s-30s" Do the Bonney experts here agree? Also I'm concerned that the lock is a PO add-on. I have requested her best price for the box & contents, and better pics of the sockets, 20 of which she is claiming as period Bonney. Any guidance on fair market on the box alone? (I can navigate the other material shooting from the hip)

Is it missing a lift-out tote tray? Or is that it in the third pic? What an eclectic conglomeration - one tube of blue artist’s paint??? Maybe it’s lube?
The decal is good but not fantastic. Edit - actually, it’s very good - I was fooled by the crinkle texture it’s applied over. Is there another one under the lid?
I like it, but I’m not crazy for brown. Kennedys are brown and way easier to find. I like the red Bonney more. I have seen exactly ONE red top box (bigger and later than that one), and it was heavily modified. In hindsight I should have bought it anyway. RARE is understatement with Bonney boxes, so if you’re determined to have one, this may be it. If you're looking to resell it, I doubt you’d see much markup, because of shipping.
I see more of a $50 box than a $100 box, but I am a cheap *******. “Fair market” is a meaningless term to me: every sale is unique, especially in the case of unusual items. If you want it for yourself, go get it before someone else does.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

The brown is not exciting, but still nice box. I like that drop front. lift out tray style. Can always paint it red!

 

[LesserSon]

I think that chest may debut in the 1939 catalog, pp15&16. That shows the front hinged to the lid, instead of dropping in front, like the earlier (1938 cat) ones. Is it 22-3/4x10-3/4x9”? That one shows a lock like the one pictured in the FB ad. If you mean to collect Bonney, it would be a nice place to keep 72 or 74 pieces!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The brown is not exciting, but still nice box.

I was fooled by the crinkle texture it’s applied over..

Crinkle brown is original. That was their finish in that era. I have a Bonney V-series midget set in a crinkle brown box. EDIT: Photos of it can be found in post #51 on this thread, linked here. It was a popular color in that era. My Mossberg No. 82 Professional Series set and my Ward's Speedmaster Zephyrweight sets are also in brown boxes.

If you mean to collect Bonney,...

That is the key. If you're looking to flip it, Oob, it's way overpriced. You're not going to buy it for a buck and sell it for two, if that's what you're thinking. Bonney is a cultish niche, not a marketplace like Snap-on or Blackhawk etc. As a Bonney guy in need of a bigger box than the flip-top carry box I have most of my collection in now, I would probably try to talk her down to $75, knowing full well even that was too much and I would probably never get that value out of it again. It's rare, but there's just no demand for her to be able justify that price.

 

[outofbounds]

That is the key. If you're looking to flip it, Oob, it's way overpriced. You're not going to buy it for a buck and sell it for two, if that's what you're thinking. Bonney is a cultish niche, not a marketplace like Snap-on or Blackhawk etc. As a Bonney guy in need of a bigger box than the flip-top carry box I have most of my collection in now, I would probably try to talk her down to $75, knowing full well even that was too much and I would probably never get that value out of it again. It's rare, but there's just no demand for her to be able justify that price.[/QUOTE]

I'm comfortable with the price paid, Lugz. We'll keep that confidential for the moment, but safe to say I found a motivated seller in a retired storage auction buyer looking to liquidate. Based on what Ive uncovered inside, it would have been a very good deal at $125 IMHO.

Lots of what I'll guess out as "war era" sockets, including a cute 2591 "black oxide? rod puller, original Allen brand hex wrenches, a 1/2 breaker bar, lots of interesting boxes (more interesting than the NOS parts inside, but the real charmer is the period cigarette papers in perfectly dry shape that speak to the favorable conditions that this box was stored in lo these many years.

 

[outofbounds]

More to the last submission....

 

[four.cycle]

^ that "cute little 2591 rod puller" (aka "stud remover") is about one third the size of models currently produced by other manufacturers.
ergo: you can get it down into that hole where the other one won't fit.
moreover, it's probably been used, and odds are it was used by a guy who put some serious arm into it.
you might consider hanging onto it.

just a thought.

(mine is an ancient and well-used 1126 Walden)

 

[Private Lugnutz]

If it's a keeper and you're happy with the price, that's all that matters.

 

[outofbounds]

^ that "cute little 2591 rod puller" (aka "stud remover") is about one third the size of models currently produced by other manufacturers.
ergo: you can get it down into that hole where the other one won't fit.
moreover, it's probably been used, and odds are it was used by a guy who put some serious arm into it.
you might consider hanging onto it.

just a thought.

(mine is an ancient and well-used 1126 Walden)

I found something for you in there too, Four.cycle.....
I'll get it mailed to you in due course. PS - The 2591 is going straight to Ebay to help pay for the box!

 

[leg17]

..... What an eclectic conglomeration - one tube of blue artist’s paint??? Maybe it’s lube?......

Looks like the remainders of some machinist stuff.
That tube is not lube but likely prussian blue, used in various ways to check fits and surfaces.
It's a wonder it hasn't leaked all over the place.

 

[LesserSon]

Lots of what I'll guess out as "war era" sockets, including a cute 2591 "black oxide? rod puller, original Allen brand hex wrenches, a 1/2 breaker bar, lots of interesting boxes (more interesting than the NOS parts inside, but the real charmer is the period cigarette papers in perfectly dry shape that speak to the favorable conditions that this box was stored in lo these many years.

Excellent work, Oob. And if you’re keeping it for yourself, congratulations. I’m envious. That’s a hellanice box.
I think the sockets span some time - one looks 1920s, the rest seem to be interwar and WWII, like you said, then maybe a couple late- or post-war.
LOVE the HACKSAW.
Good point about the rolling papers. I’ll have to start scattering some among my junk, so future pickers will cheat my heirs with confidence.

 

[LesserSon]

Looks like the remainders of some machinist stuff.
That tube is not lube but likely prussian blue, used in various ways to check fits and surfaces.
It's a wonder it hasn't leaked all over the place.

Thanks. I was familiar with it as an artist pigment, but did not know it was used the way you describe. I’ve seen carbon paper and candle soot / lamp black used in that way. Cool.
So not really that eclectic, at all.

 

[outofbounds]

Excellent work, Oob. And if you’re keeping it for yourself, congratulations. I’m envious. That’s a hellanice box.
I think the sockets span some time - one looks 1920s, the rest seem to be interwar and WWII, like you said, then maybe a couple late- or post-war.
LOVE the HACKSAW.
Good point about the rolling papers. I’ll have to start scattering some among my junk, so future pickers will cheat my heirs with confidence.

Thanks for the kind words. Not sure about the box, and plans for it. I figure I have til spring when I'm forced to confront the pile I've created for myself the past few months. Til then, it merits indoor storage though.

I also LOVE the hacksaw. Features what I would describe as a modern "black nickel" finish like so many modern plumbing fixtures. Any insight as to where that falls chronologically speaking? Is it 40s as well?

Your cigarette paper reference is WAY over my head.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Probably same time period. All very nice stuff. I collect a little bonney but typically earlier stuff. I think of you part it out on ebay you can make a couple hundred on the lot.

 

[LesserSon]

I just meant the unspoiled papers DO indicate dry storage; I don’t have anything like that in my stuff, so there’ll be little evidence of how dry I kept it, unless I plant some.
As for the hacksaw, the frame is very similar to the illustration for model 2628 first appearing in 1939. As usual with Bonney, they don’t change the illustration, through 1948, though I would guess the pattern changed (they no doubt sourced these from another manufacturer) during that span. Yours has a full overmolded grip, while the catalog illustration shows an attached two-piece grip like the scales of a knife. In 1950 the catalog shows a different pattern and illustration, with a more generous grip, but not quite like yours. In 1957 there is a second pattern, model 2624, with the grip having a return, unlike a pistol grip. It looks like Snap-on and Millers Falls models I’ve seen. They also show the 2628 reverting to the pre-1950 illustration. In 1963 they show model 2623 looking sort of Buck Rogers-y (or actually more Jetsons-y) with a tubular spine, and the 2628 now with a formed steel grip.
So, none of these illustrations is an exact match. My conclusion is, yours is most likely from the 1940s, maybe wartime, when they may have sourced them from multiple manufacturers, and/or not bothered to re-draw illustration for minor changes like the grip.

 

[outofbounds]

I just meant the unspoiled papers DO indicate dry storage; I don’t have anything like that in my stuff, so there’ll be little evidence of how dry I kept it, unless I plant some.

I suppose that the fellas at the county dump won't give to much consideration as to my careful storage methods when my heirs arrive there to tip it all into a hole.....

 

[outofbounds]

Good point about the rolling papers. I’ll have to start scattering some among my junk, so future pickers will cheat my heirs with confidence.

Lesser Son,
I'll have to go down to the local head shop and find a new package of rolling papers, as I just sold the lot of the ones found in this Bonney Box for 10% of what I paid for the box & contents!

Need a pack of Zig-Zags while I'm there?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Antique and vintage rolling papers are a collectible niche in and of themselves, in the tobacco products category (pipes, tobacco tins, etc). Last year I found a pack of French Rizla LLF papers that were nearly antique in an old wooden machinists' box. Fun discussion on 2019 GS thread.

 

[outofbounds]

Antique and vintage rolling papers are a collectible niche in and of themselves, in the tobacco products category (pipes, tobacco tins, etc). Last year I found a pack of French Rizla LLF papers that were nearly antique in an old wooden machinists' box. Fun discussion on 2019 GS thread.

That's an AWESOME pack there, Private Lugnutz! I reckon those are worth more than 3/4 that Bonney box!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Picked up these postwar hog ring pliers at the flea market this morning. I love the unpolished machine marks.

 

[TOTO]

Found this at an estate sale today. It was in a box with a bunch of other stuff, but they sold it to me separately.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Great condition. 1946 and later.

 

[TOTO]

Thanks Lugz.

 

[LesserSon]

Pumped today to find and buy this Champion No113 1-3/4”jaw table vise with so much original red japanning on it, despite obvious filing and drill marks on the non-removable steel jaws. I had hoped the gob to the right of the B-shield was dried goo, but it is a casting imperfection.
Also picked up a 12” Stillson with no visible date code. The stamped Bonney shield is pretty clear. Needs additional cleaning.

 

[outofbounds]

Just as a public service announcement, this box is on offer for $10 on Facebook Marketplace from Harmony, PA (Western PA?). Been there awhile, I actually saw it when the guy wanted $20 for it. Ironically he wouldn't sell it by PayPal and hold it for me. I think he thought I was a scammer.

 

[bonneyman]

Just as a public service announcement, this box is on offer for $10 on Facebook Marketplace from Harmony, PA (Western PA?). Been there awhile, I actually saw it when the guy wanted $20 for it. Ironically he wouldn't sell it by PayPal and hold it for me. I think he thought I was a scammer.

Dang that old goat is begging for a restoration! Somebody snag it and save it.

 

[LesserSon]

That’s a 5hr drive for me, one way. Otherwise, I’d do it. That’d be nice for a Bonney WWII(EDIT: -esque) GMTK.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Just as a public service announcement...

Somebody snag it and save it.

That’d be nice for a Bonney WWII GMTK.

I have that box. Same color, same decal. I have shown it several times on this thread, empty and loaded with the majority of my Bonney collection. Link here for photos of it empty.

While it looks like a wartime GMTK flip-top box, and it's made by a GMTK flip-top box supplier (Union), it's not a wartime GMTK flip-top box. It's generally the same shape and size, but a little wider and squatter: the main compartment is much shallower (the supports for the removable tote tray are only a few inches off the bottom), and the removable tote tray is much deeper - and it has no hole for the oiler spout (with good reason, since the vessel of an oiler would not fit in the bottom under the tray).

Edit: As a sidenote, I haven't ever found this box in a Bonney catalog.

 

[LesserSon]

While it looks like a wartime GMTK flip-top box, and it's made by a GMTK flip-top box supplier (Union), it's not a wartime GMTK flip-top box. It's the same shape and size, including height, but the main compartment is much shallower, and the removable tote tray is much deeper - and it has no hole for the oiler spout.

An eggbeater would correct that last failing pretty quick. Or not (just read your edit.)
Obviously, it’s for fun-loving alternate-reality / revisionist fans, like in Dirty Dozen, Inglourious Basterds, or even Sucker Punch, not for serious historic realism. We have to think about how some of the rest of this stuff (not just “correct” stuff) is going to survive into the future, when the World of Tanks players of today are growed-*** men stuffed behind desks (or cringing in caves), looking for something to man-up their offices.
On a more realistic vein, most of the tools we’re imagining putting in that box are probably not GMTK tools either, though they may better fit the specs. But if I understand your previous comments on that topic, it’s a bottomless pit to argue over.
In parallel to this, I have a buddy who didn’t like the Revenant because parts of it were filmed in Alberta, British Columbia, and Argentina, thus incorrectly substituting species of trees and terrain for those in the presumed setting of the alleged original events. Similarly, he won’t watch the Good the Bad and the Ugly because it was filmed in Spain. I tease him because he loves Jeremiah Johnson, which was filmed in Utah instead of Montana and Wyoming. And then there’s my favorite Last of the Mohicans filmed in North Carolina instead of New York (displacement even crept into dialog with Kantuckee lying to the west of Albany). And what ALL these have in common is the stories are not even in the vicinity of real history. I see a Bonney box with GMTK-corresponding tools in it as being of the same inspiring - but not accurate - ilk.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Understood, LS. But we WWII guys are particular about specs, though. I'm simply pointing out that box does not meet 41-B-1840 specs. It doesn't make it less interesting. Maybe more. A civilian take-off. I like that deeper tray.

 

[LesserSon]

Yes you are right. I made a correction to my original comment.