First off, please excuse me for throwing out this real beginners question in this forum. I've been a Creek member for a little over 2 years but I am almost always in other locations - Power tools, shops, off-topic, etc.

I would appreciate some input from the experts in this forum on my cheap purchase this Monday.

I went with a client to look at an older storefront building in a small town that is for sale. My client wants to possibly purchase the building to start his own business in it. We met with the current owner and spent most of the day doing a detailed review of the facility conditions. Now to the point.... On a shelf in a storage room I saw a old wax-coated box with some chisels within. The chisels were pretty heavily coated with parafin or some other waxy substance and had wax paper around some of them too. None had any handles.

I asked the nice owner about them and he said he didn't even know they were there. I asked if I could buy them since it looked like some fun I don't usually mess with. He said, "Sure, but it'll cost ya a lot! Buy me lunch across the street at the corner cafe when we break and they're yours." Sounded good to me. That lunch cost me about $9. (tip included). (My client was going to buy the nice guy lunch anyway.)

Today I got around to cleaning them up to see what I spent a fortune on. All of the chisels are stamped "Hibbard Spencer Bartlett & Co." and the larger ones say "OUR VERY BEST" and the smaller ones say O.V.B. They range from 2-1/4 inches wide down to 1/4 inches. All are 6 inches long from the front cutting edge to where the shoulder begins to taper in. There are a few really small specs of some surface rust on a couple but no pitting at all.

Did I find something worth putting handles on or could the experts here tell me anything about them? Thanks again and sorry for the newby question.
Kev