My Take is that the most detail serious collector is not as concerned about price, but condition. The Inventory label made the "instrumenti" an artifact frozen in time. That is most difficult to replace. The piece will have a place of honor in this collector's treasured archive, to be admired by the select few invited to see this and his other memorabilia. More power to him, I like his style. Ted Ernst, Palos Verdes Estates, Ca
> All of the ones that I have are the earlier version, apparently. I believe
> them to be approx. 30 years old. I'm not even familiar with the
> "diamond-pattern" type. I guess I should stop giving these away to
> customers with their NOS Pista Hub and Bottom Bracket orders perhaps?
> I do have one (newer, I highly suspect) PBW that has a slightly different
> shape at the head (more meat, less "coining" of the top side of the hex).
> The logo'ed area is deeper on that one, and the font is larger, and
> different. The background is just plain - no "stippling" or "diamond
> pattern." It's actually less readable without the stippling, though (but
> cheaper to make and maintain the die insert for, I'd wager).
> At the risk of minor blasphemy here, Campagnolo Quality was to large
> extent obtained the old-fashioned, high-cost way back then: by a
> combination of strict specifications, and lots of inspecting and sorting.
> "Everyone" pretty much did it that way thirty years ago (with one major
> notable exception, but I digress). The level of "quality" of any given
> batch often depended on which Inspectors were involved, what day of the
> week it was, the phase of the moon, how far behind one was in meeting the
> day's Production quota, etc. I love the old NR/SR stuff, and it remains as
> some of the all-around best lightweight bike parts ever made, but we have
> to consider the era in which it was manufactured. For its time, it was
> top-shelf stuff, no question, but it was mass-produced in a 1950s-1970s
> environment, so there are inevitable variations in the product that we
> might not tolerate from current-production parts in some cases.
> When I buy large quantities of NOS NR/SR parts or tools, there is usually
> some "shrinkage," i.e. stuff that I can't sell. I've found pumpheads
> without threads in them (missed a step in the Manufacturing process),
> threads that don't work for whatever reason (undersized or oversized,
> mostly), plus other functional or significant cosmetic Manufacturing
> flaws. These things can't be sold as NOS (or at all in some cases) in my
> opinion. It's just part of the cost of doing business.....
> Greg "NR/SR Inspector Clouseau" Parker
> Dexter, Michigan
>
>
> Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 19:02:23 -0800 (PST)
> From: Fred Rafael Rednor <fred_rednor@yahoo.com>
> To: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: Re: [CR]re: Campagnolo Peanut Butter Wrench
>
> Finally, reason prevails and a sane explanation to the
> situation is proposed. Thank you, Roy and Chuck. Now
> everyone with the newer "diamond pattern" wrenches can go back
> to charging 24, 25 or 30 dollars for them - and the rest of us
> can go about searching our tool boxes for the older version of
> the tool.
>
> What I wonder is whether the quality has changed over the
> period of time this wrench has been in production? For
> example, eons ago, I purchased one of those little Campagnolo
> 6mm/8mm "T wrenches". Frankly, the quality was poor and it
> required some touching up with a grindstone to actually be
> useable. Newer ones seem to come machined to the proper
> tolerances right from the factory. What's the story with the
> 15mm crank bolt/axle nut/peanut butter wrench?
> Best regards,
> Fred Rednor - Arlington, Virginia
>
>> "Roy H. Drinkwater" wrote:
>> >
>> > OK, I was waiting for this one; I have two C.P.B.
>> wrenches.
>> > I noticed that one has a diamond pattern in the recessed
>> area, while
>> > the other has a random pattern of dots. Which one is the
>> older, and
>> > is it more valuable than the other?
>> >
>> > Roy "have the Park and the TA too" Drinkwater
>> > Lititz, PA
>>
>>
>> The random pattern of dots is earlier. The pebbling was done
>> by hand in
>> the surface of the die for making the wrench.
>>
>> Chuck Schmidt
>> South Pasadena, Southern California