Stanley Metal Toolbox

[Aaron W. Gonya]

Hello all,
I'm De-lurking for a minute with a few questions, I hope my Uploaded pic's work,
I found this metal, wall mounted tool cabinet at a flea market yesterday,

It measures 16" wide by 26.5 inches in height, The decal reads, (From what I can tell) Better Home Tool cabinet by Stanley No 895. Searching the web has turned up nothing, and I also went through a pile of old Popular mechanics from the 50's and 60's in hope of coming up with an ad. I'd also like to figure out when it was made. Just guessing I'd say between 1945 and 1960, but I have no proof.


What I'd like to do is find a original ad for this so I can track down the proper tools it would have held when it was sold new. More than likely it was a mix of woodworking and mechanics tools. I might even have some of the correct tools to fill it, just finding an ad or photo would set me on the right track.


Thanks very much, in advance,
AWG

[David Turner]

Aaron: Sorry but I can not help. I looked through "Antique & Collectible Stanley Tools - A Guide to Identity and Value -" by John Walter and although there are a couple of dozen tool boxes shown, none are metal. The book written in 1990 also stops short of the number 895 you gave as the box number. David

[Tony Falotico]

Aaron, I have no idea what you got, but a google of Stanley #895 tool cabinet brought me to an auction site that referred to a Stanley “Defiance” #895 metal tool cabinet. Further goog'ling brought me to DMP Defiance Metal Products in Ohio and Arkansas http://www.defiancemetal.com/

You might consider e-mail'ing your photos to them and see if they have any history for you, perhaps they built it for Stanley. It's a long shot but.............

Anybody from Ohio or Arkansas know anything about DMP ??

[Aaron W. Gonya]

David and Tony,
The help is much appriciated,
Defiance metal products might make sense in a round about way, I'm about an hour away from Defiance here in Northern Ohio. My search took me to that auction listing too, unfortunately no photo was provided.

The "895" number was about half conjecture, I'm sure of the 8, but the 95 was based on about half of the number remaining on the decal. It might have been 89R or maybe 89E ?

The Stanley font is definitely old, I don't think this thing is any later than the mid 60's tops.

Looks like I have a mystery on my hands. :confused:

Under Edit: I took a closer look at the decal, it looks like at one time it did say Defiance the D,E,F and the last E are still there.

[Dave Right]

Aaron, I think you will find out that Defiance tool co has nothing to do with Defiance , Ohio as I once thought also but it was started by Bailey ( Stanley - Bailey who once were partners ). in the Mass - Ct area.

[Aaron W. Gonya]

Dave R,
Yeah, my brain connected that later on, Defiance was a Company started by L. Bailey after he sold out to Stanley. Stanley later Bought Bailey out again, getting the "Defiance" name in the deal. I think they used it again in the 1950's on a line of tools priced between "Handyman" and the top level stuff, "Bailey" planes ect..

[Steve Wargo]

Hey Aaron... Check your private messages.