Once in a while I get the feeling that someone from the past that I’ve never known has reached into the future like a time traveller to place a small gift my way, like just the other day. I purchase a lot of old machinist tool chests filled with the tools of the trade that generally once belonged to a machinist that has long retired. More often than not they have languished out in the garage for decades before a widow decides it’s time to part with them. There is no denying the truth that the major goal of this is to resell for monetary reward though I’m not the only one to gain. The previous owner gets their asking price along with room in the garage for more stuff, the people that purchase from me get good quality usable tools that are far cheaper than new, and I make money while having fun and so all is good.
These tool chests are very often time capsules filled with hints of the past and each has it’s own personality similar to their previous owners. Open the drawers of some and find the interior spotlessly clean with all the tools neatly stored in their original boxes while others may be a jumbled mess of tools stored willy nilly and grimy with oils and grease. There may be a photo or two of a young woman in a print dress or bell bottom jeans posed in front of a 1963 Buick or 1972 Chevelle taped to the inside of the lid or a pinup girl when they know their wives will never access their work space . Matchbooks advertizing long gone motels with a name and phone number inked on the inside, note’s reminding the machinist to pick up milk and bread on the way home and receipts for work dated anywhere from the 1940s to 1980s. Old coins and other small treasures …. and more
The most recent tool chest had a drawer filled with brass plumbing fixtures and though not all that common a find in one of these boxes it wasn’t a surprise either. I moved on to inventory more lucrative drawers filled with tools and only when finished did I begin to discard the brass fittings. Suddenly there it was … the most exquisite pot puffer marijuana pipe I have ever seen. It truly is a well engineered work of art with a detachable stem and bowl cleaner and a removable stash storage . The obviously well used bowl itself has a little rotating cover over the top with a PP stamped into it and that was the first hint to get me on yet another Google research project.
Who knew the PP would stand for the manufacturers name … Proto Pipe . Turns out that Proto Pipe has quite a cult following as a web site explains that to tell if your Proto Pipe is genuine or counterfeit you must remove the stash container to see if there is an address and zip code stamped inside . Apart from some 30 year old ” stash ” there is indeed an address and zip code stamped inside a recess in the bowl making this one the real deal … so to speak. Next phase of research showed they are still being made right here in the USA and as this one is the Proto Pipe Deluxe model it comes with a current new price of $149.00 plus shipping and tax . Still further research shows that vintage ones are quite popular and one just like this one recently sold on Ebay for a $124.95 …..
What a nice little gift from a long passed time traveller ….
