logo on a hammer

[amertrac]

an upside down horsehoe with an A in it
I can read THAL TOOL CO  the first two letters are not readable the first thing to come to mind was athol but no matter how much i tried i could not change the A does anyone know the foundry this is from   bob w.

[Papaw]

Atha Hammer co.- AA has them- http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/other-makers.html#atha

The Atha Tool Company was a maker of hammers and other hardware items, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

[rusty]

Also: http://www.papawswrench.com/vboard/index.php?topic=2042.0

[Branson]

That's a fine looking Atha hammer, Bob.  The "upside down" horseshoe is blacksmith particular for good luck.  While others but them up with the points of the shoes to "capture good luck," the blacksmith was considered lucky all by himself, and put them up with the points down to pour the luck out on the forge.  Nice bit of folklore.

Stanley bought out Atha in 1913, and some tools are marked Atha Stanley.  It seems that some were not, were made by Stanley after the buy out.  Does anybody know how to tell whether an Atha marked hammer was made by Stanley if the Stanley mark is not there?  I have a 2# Atha marked engineers hammer that looks too new to be pre-1914.