First Boy Scout axe?

[Thomas Linton]

Great looking little hatchet!


Burning the vintage handle wouldn't have been my choice but it ain't my hatchet and it is fetching in a way.

Turns out the handle is most likely a nicely-done rehandle. If this is, as seems likely, a 1911-1913 axe, it made it through two world wars and the Great Depression over a century of use. So it's a little seasoned.

 

[Thomas Linton]

A friend has an "Anchor"-marked hand axe with small BSA symbol and nail notch. Rehandled at some point with no take-up screw. Transitional?

 

[Thomas Linton]

And while we're at it, this from a closed auction that I missed:

"THIS IS A VINTAGE BOY SCOUT'S AXE IN VERY GOOD++ CONDITION FEATURING A BLADE WITH THE ORIGINAL ANCHOR BRAND PLUMB DECAL AND PLUMB IN A BOX ON THE BLADE WITH USA UNDERNEATH. ADDITIONALLY THE HANDLE HAS THE ANCHOR BRAND PLUMB INSIGNIA TOGETHER WITH THE "SCOUT'S AXE DESIGNATION. ALSO ON THE BRAND STICKER IS A DESCRIPTION OF THE FOREST-COLORED HANDLE THAT BLENDS WITH COLORS OF THE WOODS AND THE SHEATH OF CHROME-TANNED LEATHER "THAT WILL DEFY THE ELEMENTS". THIS AXE WAS FOUND WITH OTHER ITEMS FROM AN EAGLE SCOUT'S COLLECTION DATED AT 1918. ON THE BOTTOM OF THE HANDLE'S STICKER IS FAYETTE R PLUMB WITH "PHILA" AND "ST. LOUIS" ON EITHER SIDE. THE ST. LOUIS PLANT WAS BUILT IN 1910 AND THE ANCHOR BRAND WAS DROPPED IN THE LATE 1920S MAKING THE 1918 DATE SEEM A REASONABLE ESTIMATE. THIS IS A LOVELY AXE IN SUPERIOR CONDITION WITH NO RESERVE ON THE PRICE. GOOD LUCK."