I picked this up at an auction for $40 bucks.....any idea if its worth it? Also curious as to the maker, yr, orgin, any ideas?

That is a good deal. It looks like a Columbian manufactured in Cleveland, Ohio in the early 20th century.

Bracket? check, spring? check? chamfers on the legs? check. Good deal! you got a nice vise.

Thanks for the help with the id of this vise! It's me first leg vise for my shop, not a bad start I guess!

Well, I would say about $40. You don't have anything oversized or exceptional, just a nice ready to use vise anybody here would be pleased to own and use.

Replacement with a brand new current manufacture post vise is about $700.
https://www.blacksmithsdepot.com/page.php?theLocation=/Resources/Product/Blacksmith_Vise/Small_Blacksmith_Vise.xml/

You are in Ohio, so these old tools are fairly common if you look.

Phil

$40 is a decent price for Ohio, I used to buy them for $20 to $25 there back in the 90's but prices have gone up. (Even at Quad-State!) Generally we evaluate price on width of the jaw and condition especially of the screw and screwbox with 4" being a "common size" and each inch larger increasing it's "wow" factor.

Frank, I don't recall the faceted legs as being Columbian. Did they do a "pretty" version as well?

Year between 1850 and 1930 I'd *guess*. I've had a couple of vises date stamped on the front side of the moving jaw down by the swoop.

Some of the early Columbians had chamfered legs.

I picked this up at an auction for $40 bucks.....any idea if its worth it?

Well it was obviously worth it to you or you wouldn't have bid on it. What do you mean?.... how much could you sell it for? Why would you want to?

I figure a workable vice with spring and mounting hardware is worth* $2-$3 per pound (easy). You will use it the rest of your life and pass it on. No reason that that vice wouldn't be in virtually the same shape it is in today in 100+ years. Go to any hardware/tool store and see how many things you could say that about.

* this doesn't mean that you would never find a lower price vice. only that it's usefulness is easily worth $2-$3 per lb.

I have no intention of selling it. I was just curious if the price I paid was decent. I am new to smithing so I was unsure of the value or the manufacturer. I am happy with the purchase to say the least!