Thursday, August 6, 2015

Vanished Tool Brands: Garden City claw hammer



Made of "Solid Cast Steel" but a clean stamping of the name nevertheless. Given the nature of hammer heads, I don't think this is very easy to achieve.

Notice the V-notch at the top of the cheek.  There's a similar one on the other side of the hammer.  I wonder what its purpose was?


"Garden City" was a brand of Vaughan & Bushnell out of Chicago, Illinois.  I have to wonder if the brand name came from one of the nicknames for Chicago--City in a Garden"--the English translation of the Latin motto on the city seal: Urbs in Horto.

Given the stamping on the hammer above, it's interesting that the old label below should emphasize that the hammer was forged, not cast.




They also made hammers under the Adze-Eye name:

1905 Whiton Hardware Co. catalog (thanks, Ski!)


2 comments:

  1. "Garden City" Was also used to describe an area St Catharines in Ontario and appeared on claw hammers as illustrated in Buck & Hickman's tool catalog

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  2. As the hammers used an oval logo I believe your illustrated hammer is of Canadian manufacture and not V&B

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