Shears

Picked up a pair of Disston-Porter shears this week for a buck.  I'm a sucker for any tools made entirely of forged steel.  No wimpy foamy grips for me, just practical well-made tools designed to last.
I was surprised to find that I already had an absolutely identical pair (top, below), marked "Columbian H.S.B. & Co.", which would have been the Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. of Chicago, big hardware retailers until the 1960's.  Maybe they were marked "Columbian" because they were intended to trim your prize weed?
I suspect that Disston (of Philadelphia fame) must have made these for H.S.B. & Co., and continued with the design after being sold to Thomas Mellon Evans (through his Pittsburgh holding company, H.K. Porter).  Evans promptly liquidated everything.  End of the story. Nice shears, though.