hi guys...I have the bat in hand. the markings correspond with being made 1951-1957...I'd presume closer to 57' as that corresponds to my friends historical recollection. Bat is cracked...has little use.
Apparently this is a very rare bat...despite not showing a ton of use.
It seems there are no similar bats that have sold that I can find on the internet...and for this reason as well as others I will likely be getting this bat graded and will send to a big auction house. The value range is just too variable from what I can see.
I will post more pics tonight.
Here is link with some pics I posted a while ago.
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=213784