Will be cool to see what's in there! :cool:

Yeah, I am really trying to seek out these vintage catalogs, but they are really, really rare surprisingly. Slowly, I am pulling together info to help me better date the production time frame for knife sets, parts, and pieces that come up for sale.

I’d really like to find more catalogs from the very early 70s to better date products from around the time of the 1971 Centuri catalog. What I have basically discovered over the course of the last three months or so (starting out as a TOTAL noob Xacto collector) is that the knife set images Centuri used in their catalogs (and the images were Xacto supplied images) were really representative of the way the #82 and #86 knife sets looked probably in the 1950s through maybe the latter 60s, what with the black metal blade holders under the lid, the balsa stripper with the black Bakelite knobs, etc. The info I have collected so far seems to indicate strongly that, by 1971, the blade holders under the lid were clear vinyl strips (no black metal), the balsa stripper had metal knobs. And those changes had occurred, I *think* even by that 69-70 Xacto catalog.

But, I really need to try to find a 1971 catalog and maybe a 1972 catalog to more definitely nail that down. In a couple of Xacto instruction manuals and carving guides that I have been able to obtain do seem to reflect theses changes in the early 70s in some of the knife sets shown in those publications.

Like a number of things in vintage rocketry, it’s a detective job to nail down some of these details. But the challenge makes it fun...most of the time! :o :)

Earl

It’s a shame but the old hardware stores just like the old hobby shops are becoming extinct. I’ll bet most old hardware stores that have gone out of business in recent years probably had these old catalogs like Xacto in their collections.

There are still a couple olde tyme hardware stores in my hometown.
Good places to find banned ( i.e. EFFECTIVE) insecticides too.

Thanks Earl!

That little Hobby Work Bench Display in the back of this 1952 X-Acto catalog is just too cool :cool:

Agree about the hobby workbench display. Would really like one, fully stocked.
Noticed in this catalog that the #6 knife had already changed to the "modern" style, which dates those "big honker" #6 handles as pre-1952.
Also noticed the #6L handle looks different. The #5L was available as a separate item also.

Seeing the prices clearly shows how far we have "slipped", over time.

Dave F.

I noticed in the beginning of the catalog it states that jobber and retailer prices are fixed.
They must sell for "retail" to the public.
Courts in modern times have ruled such arrangements are anti competitive and illegal.
The only current retail arrangement such as this that I know of now is one particular brand of golf balls. I don't know how they get away with it either. Maybe it is because they only set a MINIMUM retail price they must be sold at, with no maximum.
I will not disclose the brand here, but most can guess what it is.

Oh yeah, almost forgot , I'm NOT old yet, I'm not even 50 YET.

Hmm . . . TITLEIST ?

Dave F.

You are correct, setting a minimum selling price is illegal under US law. However, is is perfectly legal for a manufacturer or distributor to mandate a minimum ADVERTISED price to their resellers. They can use MAP along with a co-op advertising rebate scheme to control reseller pricing behavior.

A reseller in the US can sell at any price they wish. Advertising the availability of a product below that price may cut off the flow of critical advertising or marketing support, though.

James