(2) A.C. GILBERT # 7 1/2 ERECTOR SETS

Description

(2) VERY CLEAN ERECTOR SETS, LATE 40s TO MID 50s.
Neither set is inventoried, organized or complete but they are very clean and the parts in the one on the right is almost all shiny.
The lithographs on both sets are in great shape.
The outer lid sticker on one set has a few pieces missing.
As for their vintage, we can speculate on that given the following:
They are probably not ’46 as those had cardboard boxes and these boxes are both steel.
They are probably not ’47 as those had hex nuts and one of these sets has square nuts.
The other set has no nuts.
They are probably not ’48 as those had aluminum lids and these both have steel lids.
One may be ‘49s as it has a boiler with remnants of glue footprint for a square label and both have OE flex couplings which were new to the parts list for ’49.
The one with the rectangular boiler label footprint also has the reinforced P48 miter gear which was new in ‘50
‘50:
These set’s MD baseplates are not aluminum or blue painted steel (the one set with MDs has them painted silver).
‘50s sets had these MDs in aluminum or blue painted steel
‘51 was the first time Gilbert used silver painted MD baseplates like those on one of these sets and he used that always after ‘51. One of these sets has silver painted MDs.
(The other set has no MDs).
But ’51 set’s boxes were cardboard and these boxes are steel.
These are probably not ’51 or ’52 as those year’s were both cardboard and these sets are steel.
Steel boxes were resumed in ’53 and both of these boxes are steel.
These could be ’53, ’54 or ’55 based on the steel boxes.
These are probably not ’56 as those had a yellow strap label on the upper
left inside the lid which identifies them as “7 ½ Engineers set” and neither of these has that; instead, on these boxes “The 7 ½ Engineer’s Set” is written on the main rectangular lithograph inside the lid.
Both boxes measure 18” X 10” X 3”.
These sets will not be shipped internationally.
Shipping will be FEDEX Ground.