The first Anton Hupfauf was born in Fulpmes, Austria. After training as a blacksmith there, he moved to Einsiedeln, Switzerland, where he opened a blacksmith shop in 1898. He was soon making ice axes and other mountaineering tools. Hupfauf died in 1916 due to an accident. Melchior Ochsner, an employees, took over factory management until Anton's son, (the second Anton Hupfauf) took over in 1930. The factory closed in 1948 after the war, but the store that opened in 1924 remained open until 1979. I've seen Hupfauf ice axes dating from the early 1950s, suggesting that the store had old stock for sale for several years following the end of manufacturing.

Hupfauf axes have serial numbers where the first two digits are the year of manufacture.

Ice Axes

↑ 247: A. Hupfauf C2½

• Made in Switzerland [1921].
• 1195x300 mm.
• Weight: 1440 g.
• Wood Shaft.
• Shaft: 34x28 mm.
• Fixed head.
• Straight adze with a straight edge and no arch.
• Adze: 85(l)x59(w)x0(arch) mm.
• Curved alpine pick with a pointed tip and with 11 ventral teeth.
• Pick: 150(l)x23(h)x13(t) mm.
• Square spike.
• Spike: 67(l)x12(w)x12(t) mm.
• This is a heavy ice axe whose length is consistent with the general practice of the fisrt half of the 1900s.
• Serial Number 21759, the 759th axe of 1921.