- Joined
- Feb 3, 2001
- Messages
- 32,354
Bein' born in the early 60s a cheap affordable knife for a kid was a Colonial or an Imperial tin shell pocket knife, for a couple of bucks ya could own a medium 2 blade Barlow, Campknife with a can opener or even a Fishin' knife with a hook disgorger, (not exactly sure why ya wanna disgorge a hook) but there were plenty of variations of plastic coated tin shell scales to chose from, there were simulated pearl. simulated bone, even simulated stag.
They were perfect as advertisin' pieces, addin' even another aspect of collectabilty to these cheap knives, unfortunately the one thing that made them so available, (a cheap mass reproducible knife) has contributed to the fast extinction of these same knives.
Because they were so cheap people practiced what was called use to destruction, unlike more expensive knives that were taken better care of and even if the tip broke they would be more apt to modify the broken blade on a more expensive knife back to a sheepsfoot where as the Imperial would become a flatbread screwdriver contributing to even faster destruction.
Durin' the war years when a lot of knife companies went under these companies flourished because of the low cost of manufacturin', everyone had one and because of that reason I figured there would be tons of examples around because there were so many made.
Now in comparison to today's cheap Chinese knives these were a hundred times better in quality and comparatively priced in their day. If ya ever carried one of these you know what I mean, they were decent knives that actually held a decent edge and were pretty sturdy back in their hey day.
Now if you're like me and like all the old timers here you've had your fair share of Imperials too and realize that they were an adequate if not even better than average cheap knife.
Now since I've been collectin' I've noticed fewer good examples of these knives and the ones I have seen in mint or near mint condition are comin' fewer and farther apart.
I guess what I'm wonderin' is are these a good base if ya wanna get into collectin' on the traditional path, it used to give us the ability to try different patterns cheaply and learn about the knife us might wanna get before ya spent a lotta money on a pattern ya might not really like.
I'm gonna post some pics of my Colonials and my Imperials as soon as I get a chance, if ya got any old examples of either, in mint condition or otherwise please feel free to share and that goes for your thoughts about the future collectability of these knives either for historical or monetary value.
Keep this in mind, we've lost quite a few major manufacturers in the last ten years with that examples of the old original knives, (even the cheap ones) are disappearin' everyday.
This just my humble observation over the years.
They were perfect as advertisin' pieces, addin' even another aspect of collectabilty to these cheap knives, unfortunately the one thing that made them so available, (a cheap mass reproducible knife) has contributed to the fast extinction of these same knives.
Because they were so cheap people practiced what was called use to destruction, unlike more expensive knives that were taken better care of and even if the tip broke they would be more apt to modify the broken blade on a more expensive knife back to a sheepsfoot where as the Imperial would become a flatbread screwdriver contributing to even faster destruction.
Durin' the war years when a lot of knife companies went under these companies flourished because of the low cost of manufacturin', everyone had one and because of that reason I figured there would be tons of examples around because there were so many made.
Now in comparison to today's cheap Chinese knives these were a hundred times better in quality and comparatively priced in their day. If ya ever carried one of these you know what I mean, they were decent knives that actually held a decent edge and were pretty sturdy back in their hey day.
Now if you're like me and like all the old timers here you've had your fair share of Imperials too and realize that they were an adequate if not even better than average cheap knife.
Now since I've been collectin' I've noticed fewer good examples of these knives and the ones I have seen in mint or near mint condition are comin' fewer and farther apart.
I guess what I'm wonderin' is are these a good base if ya wanna get into collectin' on the traditional path, it used to give us the ability to try different patterns cheaply and learn about the knife us might wanna get before ya spent a lotta money on a pattern ya might not really like.
I'm gonna post some pics of my Colonials and my Imperials as soon as I get a chance, if ya got any old examples of either, in mint condition or otherwise please feel free to share and that goes for your thoughts about the future collectability of these knives either for historical or monetary value.
Keep this in mind, we've lost quite a few major manufacturers in the last ten years with that examples of the old original knives, (even the cheap ones) are disappearin' everyday.
This just my humble observation over the years.
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