Antique wood tool box

the stick · Feb 20, 2018

I have had this box for over 20yrs. My boss(RIP) gave it to me used. I'm not sure how long he used it. It is strange that i cant find any other photos of this box anywhere. There is a stamp marking on the latch that says (" The Eagle Lock Company , Terryville Conn. , Made in the USA)
I have no idea if he added everything to this box or if it is original. Im sure the lock latch is aftermarket on the face of the box.
The other strange thing is that when I turned the drawers over some had a picture on it. Like a negative. I need help........ Im looking to sell it but need to know more about the origins first.
Thanks....

JST · Feb 21, 2018

The metal seems to have come from a printer's place. They seem to be a cut up printing plate. That's a clue that it either is not commercial, or those are a later modification. All he screws used for hardware suggest home-made, as the holes for split rivets usually will not take screw replacements. But holes can be filled.

It looks sort of like something Sipco made, based on hardware and "look". They did a lot of OEM boxes, apparently. But someone might have just copied a box and used the same sort of hardware. It looks to have been re-covered with "Tolex", so it might be a commercial box that was refurbished.

Gazz · Feb 22, 2018

The pictures at first looked like zinc printers plates but I read the text on them without viewing them in a mirror. My dad who was a newspaper printer used lots of the zinc plates for odd jobs.

JST · Feb 22, 2018

Gazz said:
The pictures at first looked like zinc printers plates but I read the text on them without viewing them in a mirror. My dad who was a newspaper printer used lots of the zinc plates for odd jobs.

Maybe that was why the plate was available..... a screwup at the printer?

SouthBendModel34 · Feb 22, 2018

Stick: Welcome to the forum.

Re: JST's Post #2 in this thread:

I think it's a "repaired" commercial product in the sense that it was a "repair to usefulness" rather than a "restoration" to factory condition.

The hardware definitely looks like it was NOT installed in a factory. Note the top of the side latch is not even parallel to the top of the body of the box!

Zinc is good! It inhibits corrosion by sacrificing itself. I've seen machinist-type chests with galvanized steel drawer bottoms. These lose the zinc on their inside surface. Maybe these zinc printer's plates are a replacement for the original galvanized bottoms.

John Ruth

mach2 · Feb 22, 2018

That is printer plate made from photo negatives pasted up and used to expose a light sensitive coating much like photo printer paper is contact printed. The plate is a positive and it makes a negitive ink impression on a rubber drum in the printing press. Once the offset printing job is done the plate would be discarded or recycled.

the stick · Mar 1, 2018

Thanks all, I really appreciate the responses, I guess it isn't worth all that much knowing it isn't anything special.
It sure held up for me these last 20+ yrs....

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