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Does anyone have a good understanding of the timeline for Midget box decals? A lot of the labels are gone by now so its not always clear.

Frank mentions the late 20's-early 30's, inside vs. outside style, but we're still not sure on the years. The 1926-31 catalogs shows the inside decal. The 1932,33 catalog lists a black box but does not show any decals and has similar No.56 illustrations as the 1935, which is listed as a grey. The 1935 No.55 clearly shows the embossed case. This all seems in line with Frank's timeline, but does not detail the decals. There is also the embossed boxes with the triangle or oval decals into the 40's.

I have a 1940 set that is embossed and has the oval decal.

I also have a confusing 1937 set where the inside of the box appears to be the standard grey painted over black. This box has no label now and is not embossed, but may be the wrong box.

Its just about impossible to give exact dates on boxes. The early cats are sometimes wrong on what boxes were actually made in any given year. With that, lets take a look at black 9/32 boxes, these were made from about 25 to about 32. give or take a year. NOTE: there are probably more, so post a pic if you have a different one.
The first black box had inside clasp. ( the cats 26-29 show inside clasp, they show the exact same pic every year, so we know this in not fact) also the first black box had inside hinges.


This is probably the next box. Has inside decal, with no outside decal. and insets in the hinges.


The next one has inside and out side decals, with inset hinges.


The last one that I would class as 20s has only the large decal on the outside but the hinges have changed to straight ones.

Then in about 29-30 the embossed black box comes in. Has straight hinges.

There is also an even earlier box, in green paint, which originally appears to have had a hinged hasp to hold it shut. My example is missing the hasp, but the hinge for it is there, as is the catch. Its painted the early-mid era green paint, and has the same inside decal as the second one Snapmom posted. Chances are, this decal would have been on the early black one with the bottom clip catch as well, being that this green one, which is 99% likely older than the black ones did. Because the survival rates of these decals, using the presence or lack of to date a box is quite hard.

Thanks for the responses guys! Snapmom, that was a great little write up on the physical characteristics of the early boxes. Between Chad and yourself we have the best expertise I could ask for.

I agree that it may be impossible to accurately date a box to a particular year. Decals wear off and surplus boxes and tools carry over into following years. I suppose the best way to date a set is based off the date stamps of a majority of the tools within, assuming there is one.

Mostly, I am trying to follow the progression of style and form over the years. As many of the decals wear off, it is nice to share the examples that still exist. I think we have a good start here. I finally got a picture of the 1940 box to add to the mix.