I've never seen any like those. Any idea of vintage?

WOW and another WOW that belongs in a shadow box on my living room wall   bob w.

Wow is right...

I am pretty sure they should have gone higher than this.
But the pictures were small and dark and not very many of them, focusing on defects mostly.
Art sells
yours Scott

I believe those handles are the early attempt at plastic. The guys over at GG would know better.

Wow...that is cool!!!!

Early bakelight?

Do those ratchets has  a push button selector switch?

A push through selector.

I have never seen Craftsman handles in yellow lucite, ever!  I have my fathers Craftsman socket set, all steel, ratchet with push thru reverser.  It was a gift to him from his brothers, when he returned to the farm in 1947, so I have a definite date on that.  Perhaps this was a special set, as many things were put on hold due to WWII, an incredible amount of things were not available during the war.  Or maybe was a pre-war set, that was discontinued quickly with the start of hostilities?  A backlit shadow box would make quite a display.

In 1942, you could have bought yourself a set right out of the catalog or at your local Sears for $32.50.

I wonder what is sitting on the shelves right now .... that'll have the same appeal in 2082? If you know, run out and buy a dozen for your great, great, great (how many greats in 70 years?) grandkids college fund.

The 1942 date, in my mind shows why they are rare.  With industries turning to war materials, and so many things declared war usage for instance, aluminum, chrome, brass,  I'm betting Lucite was in there too, with all those aircraft canopies to make.   If you will look in the magazines like Mechanix Illustrated, wartime editions, you will find that common items like flashlight batteries, and most ammunition simply were not made during hostilities.  Most of the 1942 model  cars, had painted bumpers and hubcaps as chrome was pulled off the market, and even aluminum pistons were replaced with cast iron ones.  Plastic handled Craftsman, geeez, another thing to watch for at swap meets!  Love it.

Quite an expense set there at $32.50. According to the inflation calculator I use 32.50 in 1942 dollars is equivalent to 451.70 in 2011 dollars.

http://146.142.4.24/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl