Styles and dating of the standard Camillus boxes
- Thread starter Vit_213
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Great job Vitaly, as always.
Two piece boxes as depicted in the third photo from the top (1988 - 1993) were made by the Jordan Box Company located in Syracuse, NY. I was told by one of the principals of that company that Jordan Box halted production of two piece Camillus boxes in or around 1993 when Camillus teamed with Jordan's competitor, contracting for folding boxes as a cost-cutting measure. While that marked the conclusion of Jordan Box producing two piece boxes sporting the Camillus name, Jordan Box continued to make two piece boxes for Camillus Cutlery Co. until Camillus closed, but only for the Remington, Becker, Cold Steel, Boy Scout, and possibly other knives produced by Camillus.
Prior to Jordan Box Company's partnership with Camillus, the J. F. Friedel Paper Box Company, established in 1867, made boxes for Camillus. J. F. Friedel quite possibly produced the first three boxes depicted above. I'm not sure if J. F. Friedel continued to do work for Camillus once the Jordan Box Company entered the picture.
A May, 1977 article in the Syracuse Post Standard announced that the National Paper Box Association awarded First Place in the Sporting Goods category to J. F. Friedel Paper Box for the "American Wildlife Box" Friedel produced for Camillus Cutlery Co. The challenge that year was to create "a pilfer-proof, extra-strength, eye-catching total package that helps answer the increasing demands of self-service merchandising."
Sometime soon I will determine if J. F. Friedel Paper Box is still a viable business. If so I will reach out and pay a visit to glean as much information as I can regarding the Friedel - Camillus partnership. If not I will attempt to track down any old timers associated with the company. I will report my findings, if any, here.
Two piece boxes as depicted in the third photo from the top (1988 - 1993) were made by the Jordan Box Company located in Syracuse, NY. I was told by one of the principals of that company that Jordan Box halted production of two piece Camillus boxes in or around 1993 when Camillus teamed with Jordan's competitor, contracting for folding boxes as a cost-cutting measure. While that marked the conclusion of Jordan Box producing two piece boxes sporting the Camillus name, Jordan Box continued to make two piece boxes for Camillus Cutlery Co. until Camillus closed, but only for the Remington, Becker, Cold Steel, Boy Scout, and possibly other knives produced by Camillus.
Prior to Jordan Box Company's partnership with Camillus, the J. F. Friedel Paper Box Company, established in 1867, made boxes for Camillus. J. F. Friedel quite possibly produced the first three boxes depicted above. I'm not sure if J. F. Friedel continued to do work for Camillus once the Jordan Box Company entered the picture.
A May, 1977 article in the Syracuse Post Standard announced that the National Paper Box Association awarded First Place in the Sporting Goods category to J. F. Friedel Paper Box for the "American Wildlife Box" Friedel produced for Camillus Cutlery Co. The challenge that year was to create "a pilfer-proof, extra-strength, eye-catching total package that helps answer the increasing demands of self-service merchandising."
Sometime soon I will determine if J. F. Friedel Paper Box is still a viable business. If so I will reach out and pay a visit to glean as much information as I can regarding the Friedel - Camillus partnership. If not I will attempt to track down any old timers associated with the company. I will report my findings, if any, here.
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- Joined
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I've examined a few small folding boxes that I have which appear to be identical to the fifth box from the top ('94-'06) in Vitaly's original post above. A flap of the small Camillus boxes are marked "Diamond Packaging, Rochester, NY." Rochester based Diamond Packaging indeed manufactured folding boxes ("cartons" is the termed used by the Diamond representative) for Camillus Cutlery and the President of Diamond estimates the (first?) production date to "sometime in the later 1980s or early 1990s." The "cartons" were produced on letterpress. The creme/pale yellow and red cartons were produced in various sizes. I've only seen the Diamond logo on the smallest size carton, measuring just over 4 inches, but assume all of the pale yellow and red cartons were produced by Diamond. I'm unable to confirm this however.
I have reached out to a current representative of Friedel (company is still viable, I believe) to pick his brain and await a response. Maybe we can get an answer to Vitaly's original question ... "when started the first red boxes?"
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