Millbury, Massachusetts, then Winsted, Connecticut · 1840s–1955
Thomas H. Witherby was making edge tools in Millbury, Massachusetts, by the late 1840s and won a silver medal for chisels and drawknives in New York in 1850. He sold the business in 1856 to Harrington, Heald & Co., which ran it as the T. H. Witherby Tool Co. and made bayonets for the Union Army in the Civil War. In 1868 the Winsted Hoe Company of Winsted, Connecticut, bought the Witherby name and made every Witherby tool from then on. As the Winsted Edge Tool Works from 1882, it rebuilt within 60 days after fires in 1900 and 1916, exported to South America and Australia, and closed in 1955. Buck Brothers took over Witherby's old Millbury water privilege in 1864.
2 models we cover.
T. H. WITHERBY over WARRANTED (Winsted era); WINSTED EDGE TOOL WORKS, WINSTED, CONN. U.S.A. on the back of later chisels; early marks inside triangles, arrows or a diamond; WARRANTED is very rare on Millbury-era tools.
Witherby · Bench chisel
Socket firmer1840s–1955
$25–$70 typical ask
33 on eBay
Witherby · Bench chisel
Socket framing, 1 inch1840s–1955
$55–$110 typical ask
6 on eBay