Leeper Channel Piton Prototype

A true one of a kind item. This piton was in a box of prototypes and old hangers purchased from Ed Leeper and passing through the hands of a few folks before arriving at the Vertical Archaeology archives. Its an interesting design for a channel style piton due to the “leeper” taper. The pitons cross section compares to that of a late 1970s medium Z-piton. It gets very thick at the eye and the thicker anvil provides a decent striking surface.

The piton has a standard Leeper style eye and the Leeper name stamped just above the clip in point. Due to the large eye only the first 2 1/2 inches of the piton would be usable in a standard nailing situation but the deep channel running the length of the piton might have made it a good stacking piece. This piton has not been used and I don’t want to beat on it to test its merits.