Looking for info on an old die

[keeena]

I got this die in a lot of items and I'm looking to see if I can find any info on it. It states the type/size is 17-B but I've never heard of a size like this. I cannot find info based on any of the text from the label. The die is in a sealed tin dated December 1955, so I don't want to open it...particularly if its worth anything as-is.

Here's all the text from the label. Items followed with an asterisk might have a a couple digits wrong as its very tough to read.

7900-EA
207880*
P5 SNB3*
DIE 17-B
UP1EA*
INSP 154
MAFD

 

[Aukai]

Chicken of the sea, chunk light, in oil

 

[benmychree]

Open the damned thing up and see what it really is!

 

[Aukai]

Yeah, then take it to antiques road show.....if it was unopened it would be worth thousands, but in this condition 5 bucks.... Just joking, interesting way to pack equipment, was that a military way to keep it? probably not, it would have been cosmoline, and paper....

 

[silence dogood]

Are you sure that it's not a can of lubrication that is to be used on dies?

 

[keeena]

Ha! Trust me - I was/am quite tempted to open it up. I don't think its necessarily worth anything unless there's some appeal due to the age and NIB condition. I couldn't find a single hit on the web for dies sold in a tin can.

If you shake the tin you can feel the die slide around a bit. The sound is muffled/dampened; probably wrapped in paper.

 

[Cooter Brown]

Take it to the court house/airport/hospital/dentist and ask them to run it through the x-ray machine..... lol

 

[Choiliefan]

How much does it weigh?

 

[Lo-Fi]

Mate of mine has a whole chicken in a can from 1988. Nobody is brave enough to open it.

I doubt there's much value in it unopened and unidentifiable. Once you know what it is, though...

 

[tjb]

In December 2019 I bought a new Eisen lathe. Here are a couple of shots of the tool kit that came with it. There are two unlabeled cans contained in the kit - I have no idea what's in them other than they're liquid (nothing in the manual about the tool kit).



I wonder, and this is nothing more than a wild guess, if what you have was part of material that came with a piece of equipment of some sort from back in the '50's. If the cans from my tool kit were removed and sold separately, no one would have a clue what was in them without opening them. You have more information than what's in my tool kit, but that may explain the apparent lack of detail.

Just a thought.

Regards,
Terry