A few days ago, I reached out to a fellow I contacted thru CL last year. I ended up buying 5 Stanley planes from him last year - #3, #605, #10, #40 & #81. Those are all great users. Yesterday, I picked up this Stanley #8C plane. It isn't a showroom piece but it will be a very good user for me. He was confident it is a type 11. The original blade has the Stanley V-shaped logo. I got the two additional NOS Stanley blades with it for $10 each. Both have the original bevel and likely were never used. They have the Stanley trademark of the period and Pat Apl 19 92 (1892).
I did a little research last night. The plane does appear to be an early type 11 #8C. It has the two patent dates on the body along with the frog adjustment screw of a type 10 (1907-1909) but other features of a type 11 (1910-1918). The NOS plane blades appear to be even earlier type 6 (1888-1892).
Fyi, this fellow is a master carpenter by trade and used these in his work for decades. In the interest of efficiency he decided he had to start using power tools and he would rather these weren't just sitting on a shelf in his shop. I invested $60 in all today. I'm a happy camper.
I know there was a thread on plane pricing and some frustration expressed with being unable to find good planes out there in the wild. Central Texas isn't a hotbed of old vintage tools of any kind but I guess my advice would be - keep looking, be persistent and patient wherever you are. Eventually you'll find some.
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