Here's a totally oddball Camillus. I'm not quite sure what to make of it. By the bone covers and the blank shield, you'd swear it was a Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) knife, but the rest of the knife shows something entirely different. The main blade has a 3-line tang stamp with a short horizontal line, that roughly translates to 1946 to 1950 vintage, and is stamped 99 on the back. So at least the main blade seems to be from a very early Camillus 99 Camper, that I thought had only ever been produced with synthetic covers. The liners are brass denote either early WW2 production, or are from later in the war and afterward. The improved 2-piece can opener looks late war or after WW2. The long screwdriver, as far as I know, was only used later in the war and afterward. The brass liners and tool compliment perfectly match both the Camillus 99 from the 1946 catalog, the post-war "Army General Purpose Knife" sold from the catalog, and the late war Quartermaster knives, even down to the new longer shackle. But none of those knives used bone covers, and only the 99 actually had a shield.
To complicate matters, it doesn't seem like a parts knife. All of the blades are flush to the springs. The walk and talk on all of the tools is downright perfect. The only flaw is that the awl is missing just the very tip, and has been nicely reshaped to a new point. The knife was crazy dirty when I received it, and took a ton of cleaning to get things working properly again. So if it is a parts knife, it's been that way for a long, long time. The covers have no cracks or chips, and could not have come from an engineer knife, as they do not have the cutout for the old style can opener.
I'm guessing that maybe this is some sort of original run Camillus 99, introduced before the war ended, and before the 1946 catalog, and it just happens to be in very lightly used condition, as the main blade is almost completely full.
Whatever it is, I'm ecstatic. It's a wonderful knife. The Rogers bone covers are worn down to that state where you still get nice darkly dyed recesses, yet a light smooth surface. Between the shield and the very shiny bone, the knife just glows in the light. The mark side and pile side covers even match well.
From a functional perspective, this knife has improved upon the basic Army Engineer Knife. The tip of the longer screwdriver is perfectly in line with the center line of the knife. The can opener is far less prone to breakage than the older war style opener. The spear blade and awl remain unchanged.
I bought this knife as a user to keep in my outdoor pack, because I was sure that it was a parts knife. But suddenly I'm not so sure, to the point that I'm kind of afraid to use it. It could very well be the earliest and completely undocumented form of the Camillus 99 Camper, and the only one I've ever seen in existence. It's pretty much the holy grail of knives for a Camillus scout collector such as me. Best of all, I got it for less than $35.00 on auction, as it was described as having Delrin covers.