Bidding On Ebay For Leather Stamping Tools

[bruce johnson]

Frosted like these? I have had several. No markings on any of them. These I know the history of and they are from a maker who bought them in the early to mid 60s.

[WyomingSlick]

Frosted like these? I have had several. No markings on any of them. These I know the history of and they are from a maker who bought them in the early to mid 60s.

Yup, that would be them........same finish, same round end on shaft, and the same removal of finish on the business end. Those would fit right in with these others of mine.

So,can you tell us anything else about them?

[WyomingSlick]

Bruce, Nope, it wasn't me that won that auction since these are the only Hackbarths I've picked up for a while.

That last auction I posted up above was sure kind of a miscellaneous collection. I went for it because of the large McMillen stamp to the far right. The rest were an assortment of a few very early Craftools, some later unlettered Craftools, a couple of the metal stamping Craftools (the brasssy looking ones), the small pinker, and some junk

Here is a picture of the McMillen after clean up with another real "oldie".......a F.K. Russell fleur-de-lis that I won (stole) in another auction

Oldies.JPG

So, why isn't the attachment of the two tools being displayed in this post?

[bruce johnson]

WyomingSlick,

The history on these pictured is that they were owned by the late saddlemaker, Wade Warren. A few years ago his family had contacted the Cowboy Museum about donating his tools. I went up and saw the tools and what they had. He lost most of his tools in the fire when Visalia Stock Saddle Co was in Sacramento and these are what they had with no background other than "This was Uncle Wade's stuff". They had some catalogs and receipts, only these stamps and striking stick, stitching horse, and a saddle - a Visalia "Warren Roper". One receipt was from MacPhersons and had stamps listed on it. That is the first I had seen these frosted stamps. One guy I asked at the time said it looked like a Parkerized finish. I am not sure on that. Just recently they donated everything to the museum, but I have not had the chance to go in and look at them again yet. If the paper is there, I will especially be interested in that.

Since then I have bought two sets of tools that had some of these stamps. One set had about a dozen frosted along with other stamps (McMillen looking and several Ray Hackbarth). The other set I got a couple months ago. It was a little wood box with two drawers and hinged top lid. The top had some modelers and misc stuff. One drawer had maybe 20 stamps - a couple McMillen looking, preletter CTs, and 4 of the frosted ones that had taken on a green color to the coating. The other drawer had 14 no mark nice stamps with a hand written note "Stamps from Frank". One guy who worked the AZ shops told me they sure looked like Eberle stamps. That is as close to provenance for Eberle stamps I have come - having a note that said "Frank" on it.

Now the interesting rub. When Visalia burned and closed, Wade Warren moved up to Grass Valley. Other western tradesmen were there. There was and still is some silver and leatherwork done through that area. The first set of the frosted stamps I bought came from an antique dealer in Nevada City, the other side of the mountain and a 3 minute drive from Grass Valley. The last set I bought came from a guy in Grass Valley who got them at a yard sale. It is interesting that all I have seen came from one close geographical area. I don't think it means much other than they all were probably buying from the same source.

If you remove the coating, the metal is a bit different than other stamps. It is a softer finish and sort of matte like polished aluminum. Stamps are definitely steel but just have that look.

[WyomingSlick]

WyomingSlick,

The history on these pictured is that they were owned by the late saddlemaker, Wade Warren. A few years ago his family had contacted the Cowboy Museum about donating his tools. I went up and saw the tools and what they had. He lost most of his tools in the fire when Visalia Stock Saddle Co was in Sacramento and these are what they had with no background other than "This was Uncle Wade's stuff". They had some catalogs and receipts, only these stamps and striking stick, stitching horse, and a saddle - a Visalia "Warren Roper". One receipt was from MacPhersons and had stamps listed on it. That is the first I had seen these frosted stamps. One guy I asked at the time said it looked like a Parkerized finish. I am not sure on that. Just recently they donated everything to the museum, but I have not had the chance to go in and look at them again yet. If the paper is there, I will especially be interested in that.

Since then I have bought two sets of tools that had some of these stamps. One set had about a dozen frosted along with other stamps (McMillen looking and several Ray Hackbarth). The other set I got a couple months ago. It was a little wood box with two drawers and hinged top lid. The top had some modelers and misc stuff. One drawer had maybe 20 stamps - a couple McMillen looking, preletter CTs, and 4 of the frosted ones that had taken on a green color to the coating. The other drawer had 14 no mark nice stamps with a hand written note "Stamps from Frank". One guy who worked the AZ shops told me they sure looked like Eberle stamps. That is as close to provenance for Eberle stamps I have come - having a note that said "Frank" on it.

Now the interesting rub. When Visalia burned and closed, Wade Warren moved up to Grass Valley. Other western tradesmen were there. There was and still is some silver and leatherwork done through that area. The first set of the frosted stamps I bought came from an antique dealer in Nevada City, the other side of the mountain and a 3 minute drive from Grass Valley. The last set I bought came from a guy in Grass Valley who got them at a yard sale. It is interesting that all I have seen came from one close geographical area. I don't think it means much other than they all were probably buying from the same source.

If you remove the coating, the metal is a bit different than other stamps. It is a softer finish and sort of matte like polished aluminum. Stamps are definitely steel but just have that look.

Thank you

I think your guy with his "Parkerized" observation may have something there. It may be the zinc type, rather than the more commonly seen manganese parkerization which produces the dark grey matte finish most often seen on firearms. Apparently, the zinc process can result in the greenish tinge we have both observed on some of these stamps, but initially it is the frosty silver tone we see.

About that Visalia Fire.....didn't anybody make an attempt to recover the stamps? I wouldn't have thought the fire would have been so hot as to destroy them.

Provenance? LOL Other than the 30 or so stamps my Dad bought when he was in the Army in the early 50s, I would have to say most everything I have collected is totally lacking in that aspect. I am doing good just to find an old catalog or brochure that shows the tools. And unlike the utility tools that you deal in, seldom is anything more than just the tool impression shown.

For example, here are some tool pages from a "Handicraft Supplies" catalog from J.C.Larsen Company, Chicago , Illinois that I am deducing is from the late 40's judging by the prices shown for the various other tools (knives. hole punches, awls, etc) they offered. What caught my attention was the round heels on their bevelers which are like the stamps we have been discussing. However, the rest of the stamps in the catalog seem to be a poor match and of course the numbers for these "steel" stamps match exactly with the same system used by Craftool

Actually when you get down to specifics with the "frostys", they seem to have been patterened after McMillens more than any others.

Of interest also is that Larsen also sold the Handigrip modeling tools which seem to be fairly rare.

I am surprised that more of these are not found since just like the catalog page says, they are better tools than the other modeling tools of that era. I particularly like that your fingers are much closer to the work and more comfortable in use.

.