Pitons, meaning ‘little pegs’ in French, were the earliest form of making anchors in rock for mountaineering. There was little else for a century or so until nuts, chocs, wires, Friends etc came along in the 1960s/70s. This has left us with thousands of different types of pitons along with dozens of different manufacturers. The names differed depending on where they came from, who was using them, and what shape they were, we have a large variety here in the collection.

Two French companies Charlet & Moser merged into one around 1960 and we reckon the four pitons here date from the same period in time. Similar ones are listed in the early 1960s catalogue above, indicating pre-merger. George Fisher is calling them ‘offsets’ – same thing. The price of 4/0 (four shillings) equates to 20p.