Sargent #409 with a Brass name plate.

I saw a posting on Ebay that looked like this:

Besides the upside down lever cap, something looked different. I thought the logo looked brass, so I contacted the seller. These Sargent planes with brass inserts were produced in limited runs sometime between 1927 and 1939. I put a max bid and won it for the exact max amount. How lucky is that? This is the first time I’ve seen one on eBay, and there were 3 at the same time, all different sellers. Talk about coincidence. A #407 had a starting bid of $270 (it did not sell) and a 414 that I lost the bid on. I wasn’t as aggressive on the 414, but glad I got the #409. It’ll fit in my collection well. The #414 had the brass inlay in the sole.

You’ll note some of the inserts were rectangular and some were oval.

Here are the #407 and #414 off ebay just for documentation.

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And finally here is my #409