One way and another I seem to have accumulated a number of combination and plough planes of all sorts over the past few decades….and here's one for the historians.
However, there is one thing that has puzzled me somewhat and that is a boxed Stanley 45 that I picked up in a second-hand shop a very long time ago. It is a standard Stanley 45 – all in good order, perfectly usable, no rust and complete with all the bits. It is no different from any other good No: 45, as you'll see from the picture - the plane itself is not marked with a modified number.I don't think that it was ever used until I bought it.
It is in a dark brown wooden box – finger-joint corners – and was made in the USA. The external paper labels are complete.
Alongside the usual makers name label on one side is another label that says, “ One 45 E Plane". Without a great knowledge of their production history, I estimate that this one dates from either side of the last war. Given that production of many non-essential items in tooling in the US either ceased completely or paused in the early 1940s, I expect that it is in the last section of the 1930s. Post-War imports to the UK of this type of tool were very rare and expensive.
I’ve always assumed that the ‘E’ denoted an export model….. and this is the part that I never really understood.
Is it commemorative of something?
What was its date, given the unique marking?
If it was an ‘export’ model and expecting that tariffs would apply both sides of the Atlantic during the 1930’s in any case, why was it distinctly marked?
Any Ideas?