While we were on vacation a few week we stopped at a flea market looking around. Ron saw this piece in the bottom of a display cabinet and pointed out an old caliper. Upon further observation I noticed it was a Belcher Bros. piece. I debated on whether to purchase it or not and my wife finally went back in and bought it for me. 

 

 

This is the third one of these I have run across and each one is different. Belcher Bros is one of the hardest to find rulers, the most rare and generally cost the most.

 

The first one I found is hinged in the middle and folds up. They started making these around 1822 and closed shop in 1873.

 

 

These logo was used from 1853 to 1873.

 

 

One side is a shoe sizer and the other side is a ruler or caliper.

 

 

What really drew me to this one was on one side.

 

 

A four inch ruler that is Ivory. 

 

First one I have found by Belcher Bros with the Ivory. I have three Stanley Ivory rulers.

 

Pretty excited to add this one to my collection. Thanks Ron for pointing it out to me.

 

 

 

Nice FInd!

 

Now we can blame the Mrs. for needing another display case 

24 minutes ago, lew said:

Nice FInd!

 

Now we can blame the Mrs. for needing another display case 

 

And Ron for showing it to me! 

Wow! That is nice John! And an awesome Mrs. Moody!!

When I see this kind of stuff I think junk. I just do not have the eye for that. A plane I can figure the cost vs value and work it out.

He's not joking either.  John and I walked out to the car and John's wife came out and talked him back in.

10 hours ago, Gerald said:

When I see this kind of stuff I think junk. I just do not have the eye for that. A plane I can figure the cost vs value and work it out.

 

Belcher Bros rules value between $200 - $500 because of the rarity. I bought one at a flea market for $35.00 and another for $25.00. This one was a little more but still under the value. 

 

2 hours ago, John Moody said:

 

Belcher Bros rules value between $200 - $500 because of the rarity. I bought one at a flea market for $35.00 and another for $25.00. This one was a little more but still under the value. 

 

When you got the eye for this you got the eye, I am with Gerald, I would not be able to see that if I walked by it. Impressive John. Hey, is American Pickers still on?

14 minutes ago, John Morris said:

When you got the eye for this you got the eye, I am with Gerald, I would not be able to see that if I walked by it. Impressive John.

Great find! I'm with John & Gerald...would have walked by and doubt I would have given that a second look. Thanks for sharing the find AND the story/history.

You have an awesome wife too, but I suspect you already realize that!

17 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Hey, is American Pickers still on?

Yes, still coming out with new episodes but I think the broadcast night has changed...I really need to get a DVR

Just now, Grandpadave52 said:

Yes, still coming out with new episodes but I think the broadcast night has changed...I really need to get a DVR

We used to watch it on Netflix on our Roku.

Hey Gramps, you should really consider a Roku or some other streaming device. They have a huge selection of entertainment, mostly free. We cut our cable a few years back, installed an HD antennae and purchased the ROKU, and never looked back, so all our TV is free. We only pay for internet connection. Ooops, we do pay for Netflix, it's about 9 bucks a month, but that's it, so our viewing entertainment is 9 bucks a month.

20 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Hey Gramps, you should really consider a Roku or some other streaming device.

 

My daughter/SIL have a Netflix account which we use. Since I finally entered the 21st century last year and bought a Smart TV it has Netflix, YouTube, Roku and a host of other Apps pre-loaded so we do watch some that way. I cut the DISH subscription back to the very basic package over a year ago when they forced me to upgrade my dish & receiver then added their Heartland Package to the basic...It runs <$25/mo but does give us all local channels plus a lot of Family oriented movie channels, and others like History.

 

I still have an OTA probably 40 y/o (not digital) on a tower which does get us some of the "local" stuff. Living in the "sticks", we're a good distance from any local TV (networks) but typically only use it for news anyway which I can stream either on the TV or our tablets but I do use for various sports (NFL, College and some High School Football/basketball) The kids mostly use their tablets to watch their genre anyway.

Per DISH, I can add my own portable hard-drive (2TB max) for a one time up-charge of $40 to activate the service but no monthly fee. Some limitations on number of shows you can record at once while still watching, but a non-factor as far as I'm concerned. 

 

We only received access to High-Speed internet a couple of years ago (previous options were through a satellite service and cost/data prohibited), but are just on the fringe for max speed (72mbps) but no data limits. Depending on the usage some things can buffer occasionally especially if several wireless devices are functioning at once.

@Grandpadave52, you got it all under control! Here I thought I had ground breaking news!

@Grandpadave52, could you translate that last post to English? It's all Greek (or is that GEEK) to me.

John

30 minutes ago, John Morris said:

@Grandpadave52, you got it all under control! Here I thought I had ground breaking news!

Occasionally an old dog learns enough of a new trick to be really dangerous! Fortunately most of it is all low voltage.

12 hours ago, John Morris said:

When you got the eye for this you got the eye, I am with Gerald, I would not be able to see that if I walked by it. Impressive John. Hey, is American Pickers still on?

 

Yes I think the new season just started. 

 

Which reminds me of a relevant topic re: ivory.

 

Does anyone know the status of the current federal over-reach into the ownership of ivory objects.   There were rules proposed at the federal level which would have banned virtually all ivory of any age from any source and some wacko states have gone ahead and implemented their own over-reach.

 

Why do i say over-reach?  Because the US in toto uses VERY little ivory nowadays for anything.   The largest worldwide user is China and has been for years.   US use includes walrus, hippo, mastodon, hog, etc.  in a variety of ways, but some folks were having their property stolen by the local officials.

On 7/25/2017 at 3:01 PM, p_toad said:

Which reminds me of a relevant topic re: ivory.

 

Does anyone know the status of the current federal over-reach into the ownership of ivory objects.   There were rules proposed at the federal level which would have banned virtually all ivory of any age from any source and some wacko states have gone ahead and implemented their own over-reach.

 

Why do i say over-reach?  Because the US in toto uses VERY little ivory nowadays for anything.   The largest worldwide user is China and has been for years.   US use includes walrus, hippo, mastodon, hog, etc.  in a variety of ways, but some folks were having their property stolen by the local officials.

 

 

 

But once the new rules go into effect, ivory can be sold out of state only if it’s more than a hundred years old or is a small part of manufactured products such as an ivory-handled gun or part of a musical instrument.

 

 

it also has to be over 100 years old.