Sears, Roebuck & Co. — Consumers Guide, Catalogue No. 112, Fall 1902
Maker catalogs give specs but no prices; retail catalogs give both — so this is where a full record (model · pattern · weight · finish · date · price · citation) actually comes together. Eleven axes from one 1902 Sears page, transcribed straight from the catalog’s own text and cited by Sears catalog number — the exact per-item locator.SR112 These are house/regional brands (Sears didn’t carry Collins or Kelly by name) — several of them, it turns out, made by the American Axe & Tool trust.
| Cat. No. | Brand | Pattern | Bit | Weights (lb) | Notable finish / feature | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35T2677* | Red Ridge | Michigan | single | 3–5 | thin, well-balanced blade | 50¢ |
| 35T2678 | Red Ridge | Michigan | double | 3¼–5 | same make & finish | 70¢ |
| 35T2679 | Red Ridge | Michigan | single, handled | 3½–4½ | hung on hickory handle | not legible |
| 35T2680 | Hunt’s Superior | Yankee | single | 3–5 | black, polished bit; hand tempered; “brand made since 1826” | 56¢ |
| 35T2682 | Hurd’s Razor Blade | Dayton | single | 3–5 | hand made; natural-gas temper; taper eye | 55¢ |
| 35T2683 | Hurd’s Razor Blade | Wisconsin | double | 3¼–5½ | hand made; natural-gas temper | garbled |
| 35T2686 | Jamestown | Western Crown | single | 3–5 | full polished & etched; blue phantom bevel | cut off |
| 35T2687* | Jamestown | Michigan | double | 3¼–5½ | same quality & finish | 80¢ |
| 35T2688 | C.W. Hubbard’s (Lippincott) | Dayton | single | 3–5 | patented Hollow-Ground; deeply etched; “Our Best Axe” | 63¢ |
| 35T2689 | C.W. Hubbard’s (Lippincott) | Wisconsin | double | 3½–5½ | patented Hollow-Ground; natural-gas temper | 86¢ |
| 35T2690 | Niagara | Boys’ (handled) | single | ~3¼ w/ 28″ handle | best cast steel; red finish, blue bevels; made like the men’s axes | 25¢ |
✓ primary-ocr transcribed from the catalog’s own OCR (primary source), cited by exact catalog number · ~ price unclear figure not legible in this scan · * catalog number inferred from the run. Full page scan at the source link.
A quarter would buy a child a real chopping axe — best cast steel, red finish with blue bevels, made like the men’s axes and hung on a 28″ handle. A boys’ axe at 25¢, pinned to a dated reference: Sears Catalogue No. 112 (Fall 1902), item No. 35T2690.
Priced-to-the-cent axes like these survive mostly in retail catalogs, and those carried the stores’ own house brands (Red Ridge, Hunt’s, Niagara), not Collins or Kelly by name. So a Sears price is real and dated — but it is a house-brand price. A named-maker price, dated (a priced Collins or Plumb line), is the scarcer find, kept in the makers’ own price lists and a few dealer catalogs.
Prices are only half the story; each maker’s own page adds the other half — patterns, weights, and how to date a head by its stamp.
SR112 — Sears, Roebuck & Co. Consumers Guide, Catalogue No. 112 (Fall 1902), tools sections. Public domain. Internet Archive →
← Brand pages: Collins & Co. · True Temper / Kelly · Plumb · American Axe & Tool · Mann Edge Tool · Warren / Sager · Douglas · Underhill · Emerson & Stevens · Snow & Nealley · Data: data/sears1902.json
Eleven axes from one digitized 1902 Sears retail catalogue. Specs and prices are transcribed from the catalogue’s OCR and cited by catalog number; prices are OCR-read, pending a page-image spot-check. Brand names are the catalogue’s own (house / regional brands). Not affiliated with Sears or any rights-holder.
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