I just bought an early Ideal 431244 SC mould on line, and made a couple of discoveries. First of all, this is a non-vented mould. This is the first Thompson anything I've ever seen that wasn't vented, and I have plenty of them (358156 addict). The second thing I noticed is a stamping on the under side of the (original) box lid "For Sale By Ray C. Thompson Grand Marais, Minn".

Could this be one of the original Thompson moulds? It appears that it was sold directly by Ray. back in the original ".44 Associates" days. Like I said, I've never seen an unvented Thompson mould before. All of my other Thompsons, even the ones also marked "431244" are vented.

No I want an invented 358156, very bad!

SOUNDS LIKE IT IS

Thank you! I really appreciate your opinion. I guess I'm over paying a little extra for it because it was unvented.

Now to find an unvented 358156, if they exist.