Does anyone here know or have suggestions about how to judge the age of GE nippers? Lee Liles suggested Joe Lopez ,and I ll give him a call this week but I figured I d ask here. Might find the mother load of info, shared. I asking in reference to this pair of 12" hoof nippers, the G E stamp is no like what we are used to seeing on GE tools since I ve been owner of HU, and previous to that, I used Diamonds ,so I have no good reference point from my own experience. The G and E appear to be stamped separately, I say that because the top of the G is stamped lighter than the rest of the G and the top of the E is also lighter that the rest of the E but deeper than the top of the G. . Also the ends of the reins ,the part that curls out slightly is considerably less from side to side. I realize that they may have been modified and or worn from dragging or some other use, but it also could be from hand forging, I don,t know.... Any other ideas? Lee also stated that GE has had other owners, besides, the Garner family and Mr. Ernst(?spelling) Just trying to date these and learn a little. Thanks in advance Ray
Gary, I ve heard bout cyber dating, the missus won t let me do that ,not sure I want to suggest carbon dating to her. Brian, could be, they would fit most counters, Bill, I have a pair of GE saddlehorse clenchers that were bought before GE stopped making them , I m pretty sure from back in the 90 s, they have the stamp with GE in the diamond and USA above the logo. Thanks Ray
I once read an article about the history of GE but for the life of me I cant remember where. Basically it said they started out hand forging every pair and then doing around from track to track selling them. When demand got to be more than they could produce by hand they set up shop and started mass production. That would be something if that was a pair of the original hand forged ones. Seems like that article said they started in the 20's
Just got off the phone with Bill garner. He said based on the way the logo is stamped they were made in 1973-74. He said when his dad first bought the company One of the first things he did to speed up production was to have a stamp made with a G and E on the same stamp. He said prior to that they used a standard letter stamp set and the G and E were put on individually and each letter was followed by a period.
Speaking of clenchers, I stopped at a tag sale today because it was listed as having an assortment of tools, a man in front of me had just purchased a pair of clenchers from the folks holding the sale, because he thought that they were "neat " pliers, I asked if i could look at them ,was pretty sure I recognized them, years ago , I lost a pair of GE saddlehorse clenchers in a fight with a Morgan horse not far from this place when it kicked my box,at that time I marked my hand tools with a slight nick on the steel handle as an identifier, still do. The man who had just purchased them wasn t sure he wanted to re sell them in front of these older folk from whom he had just purchased them, I gave him 5 times what he paid, and showed him my mark and told him the story, the older folk wanted to give me my money back since they felt that they had just sold my property , I told them to keep the $2.00 that they got from he man as a storage fee. Then the guy who I bought them from wanted to give me the $10.00 back, I suggested that he keep that as a finders fee, I might not have seen them if he had not picked them up. Aside from the rust, the things are like brand new. Those clenchers then went for ,maybe $28.00 in the mid 1970s. $40.00 for a pair of those clenchers today is not a bad price................ but I ll still keep using my adjustables! Ray
I do wish you whippersnappers would quit referring to things from the 80's, 90's as "old". That's about the time I got protected by the antiquities act. My pulloffs were my Dad's and he died in 1969 (at age 83).
Jack, the nippers we think were the early 70 s the clenchers, later 70 s ,tools get old and worn out i would not call you old................... but "mature" might sound better to you.... myself, i have no intention of maturing or acting grown up. regards Ray
I've got a pair of 12" race nippers that look the same as those do. They were a gift to my dad (never been under a horse in his life) when he graduated high school in 1973. Sat in his parents' garage until he gave them to me for Christmas year before last.
