HANDLED AXES. 



5 lbs. 



Collins" Per <loz., §10.70 



Each. 1.07 



12.80 

 1.23 



Figure 52. — 19TH century: The Americ.\n axe was unexcelled in design and ease of use. 

 European observers praised it as distinctly American. At the Centennial Exhibition in 

 1 876 Collins and Company of New York City was singled out as one of the outstanding 

 manufacturers exhibiting these axes, a reputation that persisted. {Tools for all Trades, 

 Hammacher, Schlemmer and Company, New York, 1896. Smithsonian photo 56625.) 



S^^ 



No. 76. 



Incli, 



r.r.l,./,-, 

 ■ lICll, 



Figure 53. — 1876: Disston and Sons long continued to remind prospective buyers of the company's success 

 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition by retaining the "Centennial Saw, No. 76" as a brand name. 

 {Illustrated Catalogue, Baldwin, Robbins and Company, Boston, 1894. Smithsonian photo 56627.) 



Or was it mainly a compulsion to dress, with little 

 effort, a lackluster material that seemed stark and 

 cold to Victorians accustomed to the ornateness being 

 achieved elsewhere with the jigsaw and wood? What- 

 ever the cause, the result did not persist long as a 

 guide to hand-tool design. Instead, the strong, plain 

 lines that had evolved over two centuries won uni- 

 versal endorsement at the Centennial E.xhibition. 

 The prize tools reflected little of the ornateness ap- 

 parent in the wares of most of the other exhibitors. 

 American makers of edge tools exhibiting at the 

 Centennial showed the world not only examples of 

 quality but of attractiveness as well. 



Change 



.American hand tools in 1876 did not achieve the 

 popular acclaim accorded the Corliss engine, yet few 

 products sho\vn by American exhibitors were more 

 highly praised by foreign experts. It seems justified 

 to suggest that American edge tools displayed at the 

 Centennial had reached their high point of develop- 

 iTient — a metamorphosis that began with the medieval 

 European tool forms, moved through a period of 

 reliance on English precedents, and ended, in the 

 last quarter of the 19th century, with the production 



214 BULLETIN 24 1 : CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



