Emilio, while I'm on the same page with you I'm not on the same paragraph & others may be too. I buy a lot of used tools. I prefer to buy tools with no personal markings on them. I'll pay more for something clean unless it's a really good deal. Less than 1% of my tools are engraved, probably less than that, I think I only have 2 tools that have personal markings on them & they are not names, they are either a control # or dept #. Others don't care about markings, perfectly fine. I'll only keep a tool that has someone name on it if it was someone I personally knew.
Personal marking can somewhat deter theft, that is in the work place. A good thief can make it disappear. But like others have commented, when working in a big shop or whatever you sometimes have to mark tools. When I was an auto mechanic, as much as I didn't want to, I marked all my Snap on, Matco, etc stuff cause we had much of the same tools. Stuff that was easy to distinguish that others did not have I did not mark like my pneumatic tools. I marked my hand tools discretely like you. But everyone's not the same. When I worked in electronics repair it was a big company, people like to walk off with things. Placing your mark big & noticeable is more appropriate in that case, so it's easily seen by you & others. Easier to just glance at a big mark, without having to confront a person & inspect the tool for you mark, no one likes to be accused.
Who cares how people mark their stuff, it's theirs, they're not thinking about resale value. As long as it doesn't affect the functionality of the tool it doesn't matter. Everyone is different, you can't recommend someone on how to mark their own tools. I don't mark any of my machining related tools cause I don't use them for work, but still I'm not thinking about resale value. My tools may resale when I am gone, at that point I don't care & won't know.
As for that Albrecht marked HM, you should of kept it & resold it here. "Albrecht chuck for sale, custom engraved Hobby-Machinist".
