Millers Falls Box — Millers Falls Planes

Dating a Millers Falls tool was easy for a brief time

Primarily in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Millers Falls stamped the inside bottom of the box with the date the tool was packaged. The date format is in a numeric month and two digit year. This ink stamp also included a three to four digit numeric number. If you look at enough of these stamps, you can see the numbers are each individually stamped. This state-of-the-art approach can lead to mistakes such as reversing the year and changing the order of the three fields. I’ll point out a few that were found. One option on what the three to four numeric code will be entertained.

The first example is a Type 2 second release with a date stamp “Sep 22, 1950” from the hardware store where it was sold. Inside the box is a stamp “805 43?”.

If you reverse the 05 to 50 when the store had the plane one month after it left the factory.

No. 14B with a date stamp “11 66” and code “3625”. Also, note the ink stamp on the iron.

The date on this type 4 No. 14 is January 1955 “155 ?30”. Type 4 started in 1953.

The No.36 stopped production in 1961. This one was produced in July 1959.

The No. 90 started production in 1958. This one left the factory in September 1959.

The No. 90 series ended production in 1969. This No. 90B has a date of February 1965. All the examples up to this one had a month, year, and code stamp. In this example, the year is first followed by the month and the three-digit code.

The ink on this next example is difficult to see. It is a No. 700 with a stamp of “1155 430”.

This style No. 900 was made in the 50’s not the 40’s. Another example of creative formatting

This pre-V-Line No. 900 has a June 1955 and a code of 430. The V-Line did not start until 1956.

This is a No. 1455. In this example you can see yet another change in the order of the stamp. First is the three-digit code, next is the year with no space and the month is near the corner and difficult to see in this picture. “43258 12”

These two box stamps are the earliest stamps on a Millers Falls product. The top box has has one of the earliest numeric stamp found in a box. The bottom box has the stamp "BOXXX" that is found on many type 1 boxes.

The "BOXXX" stamp is found on both block and bench planes.

This No. 700 was produced with the initial features

Employee Number

The following list is a tabulation of over fifty examples taken from ink stamps found inside of boxes. The employees at Millers Falls had badges with employee numbers. One guess as to what the three or four digit numeric code is would be an employee number. You can see that some of the numbers are used over many years.

Codes inside a box

Code In Box	Date In Box	Plane Model	Plane Type
249	2/65	90B

427	11/54	75
427	10/54	9	T4

429	1/55	900	T3A
429	10/54	707	VLine

430	1/55	14	T4
430	3/55	900	T3A
430	4/55	85
430	6/55	900	T3A
430	9/55	16
430	11/55	700
430	2/56	9	T4
430	3/56	56
430	6/56	900	T3D
430	9/56	85
430	10/60	16
430	10/60	707
430	10/61	17
430	3/62	90
430	9/62	07	T2
430	11/62	900	T3E
430	2/63	14	T4

432	8/50	9C	T2/2
432	10/52	07
432	11/52	900	T2D
432	12/52	900	T3A
432	7/53	814	T3A
432	11/53	900	T3A
432	4/54	900	T3A
432	3/55	75
432	4/55	900	T3A
432	9/55	400W Worthington
432	10/56	75
432	5/57	900	T3C VLine
432	8/57	55
432	6/58	22	T4
432	10/58	90
432	11/58	900	T3E
432	12/58	1455
432	2/59	90
432	7/59	56
432	7/59	36
432	9/59	90
432	10/59	707	VLine
432	10/59	1455
432	12/59	87
432	12/59	16

436	1/51	700
436	4/51	67	Blk Body/Knob

446	12/61	206B
446	12/61	900

482	10/52	814	T2C
482	9/59	90

625	5/63	700
625	10/64	33
625	2/65	4
625	9/65	900B	T4A

907	10/64	37033 Sears

3625	11/66	14B	T5
3625	1/66	90CBG
3625	1/66	85

I think we can put this one to rest.

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