Feel lucky my friend. In the 70's I bought a then expensive Craftsman, that I used maybe ?? 30 times. It sat in the case for years. Sometime in the early 80's I needed it and ----same thing---full of "something" in there.
I've now got some junk various China electronic ones. A couple are fairly accurate "for a caliper" but the damn battery life is terrible. You must remove the batteries as they don't ever truly turn off.
BUT I DID BUY here within the last few years about three old Craftsman VERNIER calipers. I have to use a magnifier, but I can read them to near a thousands, and if careful, a bit better. These are all the old school ones and I bought them off Egag. I RECOMMEND THEM HIGHLY as there is nearly nothing to go wrong!!!
They are all slightly different.........one is decimal and 1/128", other two are metric and decimal, and the charts on the back vary. One is fraction to decimal, the other has tap sizes
An example off Egag. The vintage Craftsman ones were made by 2 or 3 different manufacturers
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