It pays to read the small print

[ccdjg]

While idly browsing the internet a few weeks back, I spotted on the Henry Krank website a couple of interesting vintage packs of darts. The labelling was rather plain and seemed to have no makers name, and they were just listed as ‘rare airgun darts’. The packs took the form of small wooden blocks with drilled holes to accommodate the darts. One block contained two darts and the other, unopened pack, contained its full quota of six darts. The two packs were on offer for £50 the pair.









The packs rang a vague bell, so I contacted a noted American specialist collector of airgun ammunition, and he confirmed that they were in fact Quackenbush darts. A closer look at the minute signature on the packs, which I had ignored as it looked indecipherable, showed that it was indeed that of Quackenbush. This made the darts more than 100 years old, very rare in the wooden block packaging, and even more so in the UK. I would estimate that the opened package would normally have been valued at about £70, and the unopened pack at £150, if the Quackenbush provenance had been realised.

Needless to say I snapped up the bargain.

So the moral is, always look at the small details when buying or selling. I was as guilty of not doing this as anyone, and, not being much of a vintage ammo collector, I would probably have passed these over, if I had not made the snap decision to mention them to an expert.

[ptdunk]

Fantastic catch John,
Well spotted!

What size is 21 and a half?

Matt

[AC99]

My Quackenbush No 1 is .21" cal smoothbore but the No 5 is .215" cal. also smoothbore and which may be described as 21 1/2 on the darts pack possibly.

Probably a rather tenuous connection but just a thought!

[Garvin]

Spot on about reading the small print, John. That signature is familiar to anyone specialising in Quackenbush packaging etc. Our Henry was big on logos and was one of the first to market so he didn't have much competition.

https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery....miscellaneous/

[Troubledshooter]

I got several packs of these darts some years ago in a collection I purchased. No Quackenbush rifle though.
I too approached a USA collector to get a value on them, which was considerably more than a UK collector valued them at. I swapped them in the end for some old full UK pellet packs.

[ashf9999]

Congratulations - that's a lovely find.

[Buck25]

As John states, the wooden dart packaging is very rare and is seldom seen in the United States. However John's dart packages are something that is unheard of in the US and would only be found overseas. The reverse of these two dart packages are stamped “AMERICAN MANUFACTURE”. Seems Henry wanted to ensure that people overseas knew where the darts were manufactured. This “Export” marking would only be found on specimens shipped overseas. I would ask that any collectors who have some Quackenbush ammunition check the reverse/back/bottom of their packaging to see if there are any other markings stamped or printed.





Just like air guns, new variations of ammunition packaging are turning up so happy collecting!