This page is about a small series of vintage Sears Craftsman wrench holders, made for eleven years, 1947 to 1958. These holders were both decorative "display pieces", meant to look cool in your post-war garage or workshop, but they were also practical! Holding your wrenches out in the open for easy accessibility when needed.

Immediately after World War II, the US ecomony started booming, and the Amercian suburbs began growing dramatically. Millions of new homes with garages, workshops, lawns and gardens opened up a huge new market for "homeowner" hand tools, power tools, mowers, garden tractors, snowblowers, and all kinds of other products. These decorative Craftsman wrench holders are just one small example of new products developed during this post-war era of optimism. And like all Craftsman tools of this era, they were of course Made in the USA!

There are Eight different varients of these wrench holders. The first five with the "Heritage Logo" and the last three with the "Crown Logo". (The three with the Crown logo are exactly the same as three of the earlier models with the Heritage logo, and they hold the same wrenches, the only difference is the logo. More on that below.)

The first two sets first appeared together in the 1948 Craftsman tool catalog, which came out in late 1947. (It has a print date on page 2 of 11.47) So even though it was technically considered "The 1948 catalog", clearly these sets were first created, and did exist, in 1947, which is why I'm calling 1947 the first year for these sets. It's likely many people first got them as Christmas gifts for Christmas 1947! 😉)

(Please note that the "set numbers" discussed on this page, "set 1" through "set 8", are arbritary and made up by me! 😉 Sears/Craftsman never called them sets 1 though 8, these set numbers are simply for clarification. Sears/Craftsman only referred to the sets by their official catalog numbers.)

Set 1 - 1947 to 1957

Craftsman 6-piece Open-End Wrench set, with stand.

Heritage logo

Catalog No: 9 PC 4454 and 9 C 4454   ("9 PC" does not mean "9 piece")

1)   3/8 - 7/16

2)  1/2 - 9/16

3)  19/32 - 11/16

4)  5/8 - 3/4

5)  3/4 - 7/8

6)  15/16 - 1 inch

$3.89 in 1948 (which included both the holder and the wrenches) is the equivalent of $32.00 in 2024.

Set 2 - 1947 to 1957

Craftsman 6-piece Box-End Wrench set, with stand.

Heritage logo

Catalog No: 9 PC 4391 and 9 C 4391   ("9 PC" does not mean "9 piece")

1)   3/8 - 7/16

2)  1/2 - 9/16

3)  9/16 - 5/8

4)  11/16  - 13/16

5)  3/4 - 7/8

6)  15/16 - 1 inch

Set 3 - 1949 to 1957

Craftsman 6-piece Combination Wrench set, with stand.

Heritage logo

Catalog No: 9 C 4463   

The 3rd set was introduced in the 1949 catalog, one year after sets 1 and 2. This is the only set where the wrench size is the same on both ends, one end being open-end, the other being a 12-point box-end.

1)   7/16 - 7/16

2)   1/2 - 1/2

3)   9/16 - 9/16

4)   5/8  - 5/8

5)   11/16 - 11/16

6)   3/4 - 3/4

Set 4 - 1953 to 1957

Craftsman 9-piece Open-End Wrench set, with stand.

Heritage logo

Catalog No: 9 C 4456   

The 4th and 5th sets were introduced in the 1953 catalog, six years after the first sets were introduced. While sets 1, 2 and 3 held six wrenches each, the new set No. 4 held nine wrenchs!

1)   1/4 - 5/16

2)   3/8 - 7/16

3)   1/2 - 9/16

4)   19/32 - 11/16

5)   5/8 - 3/4

6)   25/32 - 13/16

7)  3/4 - 7/8

8)  15/16 - 1 inch

9)  1-1/16  -  1-1/8

Set 5 - 1953

Craftsman 11-piece Box-End Wrench set, with stand.

Heritage logo

Catalog No: 9 C 4374   

The 5th set was also introduced in the 1953 catalog, and was the largest metal rack set ever! Holding eleven box-end wrenches! 😀

This set was apparently only made one year, 1953. Also, it never actually appeared as an illustration in a catalog! It was mentioned only in text in the 1953 catalog.

1)   3/8 - 7/16

2)   7/16 - 1/2

3)   1/2 - 9/16

4)   9/16 - 5/8

5)   5/8 - 3/4

6)   19/32 - 25/32

7)   11/16 - 13/16

8)   3/4 - 7/8

9)   15/16 - 1 inch

10)  1-1/16  - 1-1/4

11)   1-1/8  -  1-5/16

The five variations above are the only five physical variations, as far as the holder/wrench combinations go:

Set 1:  6 piece Open

Set 2:  6 piece Box

Set 3:  6 piece Combination

Set 4:  9 piece Open

Set 5:  11 piece Box

However, in 1958 (and believed to be 1958 only) Craftsman still offered sets 1, 2, and 4 above, (6 piece Open, 6 piece Box, 9 piece Open) but with the new Crown logo instead of the Heritage logo! Late 1958 happened to be the first appearance of the Crown logo for all Craftsman tools, and 1958 also happened to be the final year for these wrench holders. So there are three more known wrench holder variants, where the holder itself is identical to the original versions 1, 2 and 4, and the wrenchs they hold are still the same, but the only difference is they have the Crown logo rather than the Heritage logo. I'm calling them variants 6, 7 and 8:

Set 6 - 1958

Craftsman 6-piece Open-End Wrench set, with stand.

Crown logo

Identical wrench holder as set 1 above, and holds the same wrenches, the only difference is it has the Crown logo instead of the Heritage logo.

1)   3/8 - 7/16

2)  1/2 - 9/16

3)  19/32 - 11/16

4)  5/8 - 3/4

5)  3/4 - 7/8

6)  15/16 - 1 inch

Set 7 - 1958

Craftsman 6-piece Box-End Wrench set, with stand.

Crown logo

Identical wrench holder as set 2 above, and holds the same wrenches, the only difference is it has the Crown logo instead of the Heritage logo.

1)   3/8 - 7/16

2)  1/2 - 9/16

3)  9/16 - 5/8

4)  11/16  - 13/16

5)  3/4 - 7/8

6)  15/16 - 1 inch

Set 8 - 1958

Craftsman 9-piece Open-End Wrench set, with stand.

Crown logo

Identical wrench holder as set 4 above, and holds the same wrenches, the only difference is it has the Crown logo instead of the Heritage logo.

1)   1/4 - 5/16

2)   3/8 - 7/16

3)   1/2 - 9/16

4)   19/32 - 11/16

5)   5/8 - 3/4

6)   25/32 - 13/16

7)  3/4 - 7/8

8)  15/16 - 1 inch

9)  1-1/16  -  1-1/8

Craftsman tool catalogs:

http://www.vintagemachinery.org/mfgIndex/detail.aspx?id=222&tab=3&fl=General%20Line%20Catalogs

https://archive.org/search?query=sears+craftsman+tool+catalog

1942 Craftsman tool catalog:

https://archive.org/details/SearsCraftsmanMechanicsTools1942/page/n51/mode/2up

1948 Craftsman tool catalog:

https://archive.org/details/CraftsmanToolsCatalog1948/page/n7/mode/2up

1949 Craftsman tool catalog:

https://archive.org/details/SearsCraftsmanMechanicsTools1949Catalog

1950 Sears catalog:

https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1950-Sears-Fall-Winter-Catalog/1219

1951 Sears catalog:

https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1951-Sears-Fall-Winter-Catalog/1244

1952 Craftsman tool catalog

https://archive.org/details/CraftsmanMechanicsToolsCatalog1952/page/n15/mode/2up

1953 Craftsman tool catalog

https://archive.org/details/craftsman-mechanics-tools-1953

1954 Craftsman tool catalog

https://archive.org/details/SearsCraftsmanMechanicsTools1954Catalog

1955 Sears catalog:

https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1955-Sears-Fall-Winter-Catalog/1350

1957 Craftsman tool catalog

https://archive.org/details/SearsCraftsmanHandTools1957

1958 Craftsman catalog: (the last year these wrench holders appear in a catalog)

https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1958-Sears-Fall-Winter-Catalog/1442

The first 10 (of 11) years these wrench holders were made, 1947 to 1957, they all featured the "Heritage logo", which was the standard Craftsman logo of that era. But beginning in late 1958, the "Crown logo" was first introduced. There are a very small amount of these wrench holders featuring the Crown logo! likely made in 1958 only, which was the final year these wrench holders were made. The Crown logo versions represent likely 5% to 10% of all holders made, with 90%+ being the Heritage logo.

The wrench holders no longer appear in the 1959 catalog:

https://archive.org/details/sears-craftsman-hand-tools/mode/2up

They also do not appear in the 1960 catalog:

https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1960-Sears-Fall-Winter-Catalog/1026

These wrench holders are fairly common on ebay, they aren't super-valuable, in rough beat-up condition they can had for $25 or so, in good condition they can go for $40 to $55, without any wrenches. (some ebay sellers attempt to list them for over $100, and then never sell them, because they just arent worth that much.) 🙄 Some are also occasionally sold with wrenches! value on those is variable, depending on the wrenches. (watch out! these can often be found with the wrong style wrenches!)

About the wrenches for these holders:

As far as I know, these all came with the =v= mark wrenches, with the "raised panel", (which means the text is on a panel that sticks up above the surface of the main body of the wrench), the "pointed A" in the CRAFTSMAN name, and with the "slim" wrench body type: Note that this era of wrenches often have two different center-body thicknesses, slim and wide. The difference can become obvious once you start researching them, and after awhile you can tell them apart by sight. In some instances, the "wide" body might not fit in these metal holders! because the wrench body is too wide/thick to fit in the slots of the holder. These holders need the "slim" wrenches.

So, there are four wrench charastics to look for, to get the "era correct" wrenches that would have originally come with these holders:

1. =v= mark

2. Raised panel

3. "Pointed" A

4. Slim body type

Here is what those four features look like on one wrench:

And here is a pair of photos that contrasts the "slim" versus the "wide" body:

And that's all the data I have on these interesting vintage wrench holders. I have collected three of them! the first three variants, and will take my time looking for the wrenches to complete the sets. I'm not particually interestied in collecting all eight, since the rest basically duplicate the wrenches from the first three sets, but if I come across a Crown logo variant, I would probably pick it up! 

If i'm missing any information about these interesting wrench holders, or if I have something wrong, please let me know! 😀 additions and/or corrections are wanted and welcome. email is below, thanks!

This educational, non-commercial, non-profit site is not affiliated with Sears, Craftsman, or Stanley Black & Decker.

Craftsman official site: www.craftsman.com

This page is simply the "hobby webpage" of one vintage tool and vintage outdoor power equipment collector. This is now my 6th page about vintage tools and vintage OPE! (Outdoor Power Equipment)

1. The Ariens 1960's and 70's Sno-Thro Info Site

2. Ariens Manorway lawn tractor, 1969 to 1973 

3. Snowbird Snowblowers

4. 1964 Wheel Horse Model 854 

5. Snapper Rear Engine Riders

6. Craftsman wrench holders - the page you are on now! 😄

Thank you,

Scot Lawrence