I REALLY hope they were HIS calipers 
Unfortunately not.....cost me about $125.00 bucks to replace them (Starrett) and they were my fathers so I spent some money sending them back to get them repaired, re-calibrated and cleaned up. They've been locked in my Kennedy box for the last fifteen years in their little oak case all wrapped to keep the humidity away. They were circa 1961 or so.......
That was the last time I brought any of my own precision tools to work. I have to read the directions now to remember how to use them. Spoiled with the dial type and digital.....
Same guy hit my spring actuated Starrett center punch with a hammer.......managed to wreck every jobber split point bit we had in our little shop and the dimwit is now the VP of the company I left.....