Box of antique thumbtacks

[oregano]

I recently bought one of those things that's a metal box with small slide out plastic trays that people used to use for storing random small parts when people worked on household items themselves for $5 at a garage sale. Guy was a worn out biker and he said "oh, there's a bunch of random little stuff from my motorcycles in there, I hope you don't mind". I said I didn't. Got it home and started throwing out the contents, mainly rusty screws, old rubber washers, and a few old switches. I also found this:

I have absolutely zero clue what a thumb tack that is totally flat on top would be used for. It looks like it was meant to be installed/uninstalled with a tool of some kind. Obviously very old, maybe early 20 century CE.

 

[MildredHubble]

Wow what a cool find! That would make a really nice ornament!

Perhaps the flat tops mean you can stand them on your desk without them rolling and spinning everywhere and ending up on the floor where your foot will find them at 3am and cause you to hop up and down trying to retrieve the thumb tack and you end up dropping your impaled foot onto your office chair and it careens into your desk and makes a huge crashing sounds which scares your cat and wakes up half the house? My unintended research I feel was pretty unequivocal on this matter.

On the other hand, maybe it's an aesthetic choice? To be honest I don't like the way the domed ones feel on my thumb when I push them into a surface, they give me some sensory heebie-jeebies. So I'm wondering if I might prefer the flat ones.

 

[TheLilyoftheField]

The plastic kind are called push pins, not thumb tacks. The flat ones like you have are everyday thumb tacks. I have lots of thumb tacks here and I like them better because they don't stick out as far from the wall like the plastic ones so you don't see them or knock them off easily. Mine have the same kind of box like yours. Steel thumb tacks like yours and mine are still widely available as an office supply last I checked.

 

[Nitro]

I still buy and used thumb tacks on a regular basis.
Newer ones have plastic coating on the heads.
There are still solid metal ones available too.

I would never view a "vintage" package of them as collectible, but merely useful.

Orange, a plastic coated one
Red, a box of brass plated ones.

I use a ton of them on the rough sawn wood walls up at the Steamshow machine shop to hang signage.
Doesn't leave much of a mark, so they are perfect for that too.

 

[Tom]

Looked them up. Saw your set and another size by same maker sold on Etsy for $6. Said 1950's.

 

[Toirtis]

Totally mid-century...Nice find.