Focus is on IHC; other wrenches, etc. At Baxter Auction Gallery, Indianapolis with preview on Nov. 22nd and sale Nov. 23rd ( http://www.baxterauction.com/2013/November23/tools.asp ). Lots of pictures on the auctioneer's web site.
Some very nice tools there, that's the first buffalo wrench I've seen with swastika's on it.
Probably a Buffum if it has a swastika. Lot of nice wrenchs but a little too much paint for my taste.
I see a lot of tools I would like to have, thats for sure.
There a Wizard ratchet, with stripes, in the pile. A 6" Trimo perfect handle monkey wrench, in nearly new condition. Some pliers I have never seen. Lots of stuff.
I figure the painted tools were all crusty nasty fugly when he met them, and he was just doing the best he could.
People always want to think someone refinished a perfect mint 18th century Philadelphia Chippendale highboy, and now the value is ruined.
But the truth is, nobody strips down a perfectly good piece. Why would they?
Beat, damaged, broken ugly things don't have much value, whatever anyone tells you. I suspect his painted tools will still fetch more in the market than they would have, at the bottom of a rusty bucket of pit filled schmutz.
yours Scott
The painted wrenches reflect how quickly tastes change. When dad & the others started the MVWC in 1981 many were painting implement wrenches in "company colors." Paint kept the wrenches from rusting & easier to keep clean. It was only later that people got suspicious and now collectors are stripping the paint & using "treatment" to get a "patina" look. Dad used clear spray laquer on his implement wrenches to stave off rust & now that laquer has turned a jaundiced looking flaky yellow (I see wrenches that were from dad's collection now & then as subsequent owner's collections come to auction.)
I wonder how metal coated with "Renaissance Wax" will look in 30 years.
Weren't implement wrenches mostly dip painted when they were new? Mostly satin black, but didn't IHC paint everything red?