Interesting finds
So the three of us (sister, brother and I), together with my nephew, spent part of yesterday going through the stuff in the house. I guess I suspected it all along (or maybe I didn’t want to admit it), but it was confirmed yesterday – I’m a hoarder, like my father!
We found stuff older than the 10 odd years that we’ve lived in this house. In fact, we found stuff older than me! There was a package dated 8-8-1958 (a few months before I was born), with Chinese characters, and another dated 9-7-1967, with similar Chinese characters, both of which I think contain Chinese herbs.
There was also a flat metal box containing various sizes of Chinese scales using katis and tahils that were “retired” when the Chinese medical industry in Malaysia went metric.
I wanted to keep all three items – he’d carried them from the shop to the previous house to this current house, so there must be some value to them, right? – but was voted out 2 against 1. But since the various bags of “rubbish” are still here waiting to be taken away, and I’m here, too, I’ve rescued all three of them from being thrown out (shh, don’t tell …). I don’t know about the two packages, but I do find the various scales interesting, and for that reason, want to keep them.
Here’s a picture of father using one of these Chinese scales:
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There was something else I found during the clean-up yesterday:
Anyone seen it before? As soon as I laid eyes on it, I recognised it as a keychain from my childhood. However, when I read the inscription, I was surprised to learn after all these years that this keychain is also a pocket screwdriver that fits most screws. True enough, the four points jutting out of the otherwise round metal piece are four different sizes of screwdriver heads.
The inscription also notes that the name of the manufacturing company – The H.C. Cook Co., Ansonia, Conn.
Of course, I googled for it, but could not find anything about “Powerful Pete” , although there were some stuff about the company itself. (Does this mean this is the Internet pictorial debut of “Powerful Pete” ?)
The back of the keychain shows the outline of a four-leaf clover and the words, “Made in U.S.A.” :
What I find interesting about “Powerful Pete” is its space-saving (flat), dual-purpose (screwdriver and keychain), four-in-one design. No losing one or more of the screwdrivers in the set cuz they’re all connected to one another.
Most of all, the screwdriver’s flat and round “handle” promises to be kind to my arthritic fingers.
