How to mount the Eames splint  

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My guess
Virtually all of the splints being sold now are dead stock. My guess is that the splints that were actually used were most likely discarded. I'd bet that a lot of them became damaged during use.

Mark...
woody is probably right. The splints are thin and probably got dinged up during use, and not too many people would keep a bloody splint around. It was mostly that mine didn't have a wrapper, and was found in a garage, and did not look like it was in mint condition.
If mine has been used, it probably only survived because it was fairly clean. It may be a stretch, BUT THAT SPECK LOOKS LIKE BLOOD! It's dark red. And looks kinda like what happens when you cut your hand and keep working on something and you get a little blood on it. I've done that a million times. But there is really no way to know, short of a forensic test.
Regarding the "which way does it go" question Mark... I always say "there is no such thing as a dumb question". uh huh.... So the small end has to be for one's heel, and the wide end is to support the thigh. It goes on the back of your "leg".
I'm such a sucker for these set ups.....
I like the Ray Eames story. Especially the part about Bonanza. We always knew Ray called the shots...

Hi Eameshead.
Yup, no doubt Ray did run the show "after hours". And thank you ChairLove for the image. Hopefully the" inked fleshpot"in the splint healed up quickly.
Blazed and uncrazed,
Aunt Mark

!?!
I just happened to look at this thread for the first time and would like to add that I lived one suburb over from Cockeysville, MD, where Allied Aircraft Inc. was once located, for awhile! Not much goes on there so I was surprised to see the address pop up.
I thought maybe Allied Aircraft Inc was related to AAI in Cockeysville but the present day AAI is a defense contractor founded in 1950--stands for Aircraft Armaments, Inc. Doesn't look like there's any connection.
Carry on.

Thanks spanky
Small world!
(But big enough for a whole company to go missing I guess)

Apologies if this is a dumb...
Apologies if this is a dumb question, but if you happen to buy an Eames splint in its original wrapping that's never been opened, do you then open it to hang on the wall or keep it in its original packaging?
I just did a quick sold search on eBay to see what was there and saw that someone sold a splint in original packaging that had never been opened. And although there were 7 photos attached, they were all of the brown wrapping paper and Evans label.
I'd like to at least see what I'm buying.

Hi
Mine came with the original packaging. I believe it was opened by the seller to photograph it. I kept the packaging and hung up the splint.
One thing I would be wary of for splints that are unopened is to look for water damage on the packaging.

yeah, hard to
buy a wrapped one with no photos of the actual splint!
It's a bit of a stretch to imagine that the seller never even peeked at it once. And then you have to wonder if they did not like what they saw, and now they want you to trust them?
The obsession with the untouched original wrapping goes a bit far at that point for me.
"Mint in box" makes more sense for a clear cellophane wrapped toy super hero model (or whatever) because it is impossible to replace the exact original wrapping, and its a form of proof that it has not been messed with.
But with the splints, it somehow seems reasonable enough to gently unwrap the crinkly brown paper to photograph it without reducing its value.
Im sure its a personal preference though.

X-ray ?
The packaging of Apple products is so carefully done that it seems almost precious. My Mac mini came wrapped in a die-cut clear plastic sheath, inside its cardboard drawer-box. The Apple store crew had very carefully cut through this envelope in order to release the product so they could "migrate" the data from my old computer, then rewrapped the thing. Maybe the next iteration will have a little "drop seat" die-cut into the sheath; it wouldn't surprise me . . .