Codger_64
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Schrade Bi-Centennial Commemoratives
Very recently, Bladeforums.com celebrated an important milestone. 100,000 registered members! To commemorate the event, super Moderator Bastid, Gus, held a contest in the traditional forum giving a Schrade commemorative knife to the winner who could guess at what time on which day he would acknowledge the milestone being reached. Yours truly won. And so in appreciation of the generosity we have come to know on this forum, I promised to research the knife and post a short rant of my findings here.
First a bit of background on commemoratives in general. Until the late 1960’s - early 1970’s, knife collectors generally specialized in antique knives. This changed partly due to the efforts of A.G. Russell and others who organized state and national collector clubs, and made a business of supplying the market with special limited edition and commemorative knives. The knives they commissioned weren’t the first commemoratives by any means, some such as the George Washington Commemorative from Camillus dating back to 1932. But the 1972 Russell SFO “Kentucky Rifle” is recognized as a significant starting point to the modern genre of collectable commemorative knives. There were other knives commissioned for the short series by Mr. Russell from other cutleries, but this one is of particular interest to collectors of Schrade knives and memorabilia, particularly since the closure of Imperial Schrade during their centennial celebration year in July of 2004.
While the Kentucky Rifle issue was very significant in it’s own right, less that a year later in 1973 Schrade Walden produced the first of their own commemorative sets. The first one issued was the LB-1 Liberty Bell followed closely by the second in the series, the PR-2 Paul Revere, and the third in early 1974, the MM-1 Minute Man. The three comprising a set known as the American Revolution Bicentennials.
This is the original flyer from 1973:
When compared to a photograph of the actual knife as produced, you can see that the flyer was an artist’s conception. The blade etch on the knife is in a banner, and the shielding is much smaller.
The black sawcut Delrin Liberty Bell LB-1 knife is part of the American Revolution 3 knife Set, issued in 1973-74, one of the earliest commemoratives by Schrade Walden or any other company. Others in the series are the black Delrin 'Minute Man’ MM-1 (battle of Concord) and the red Delrin Paul Revere PR2. All came in the old style clear acetate tube, with red, white and blue end caps. The serial number is on the inner brass liner on the clip blade side. Schrade originally intended for 24,000 of these made (2,000 dozen by the old cutlery accounting method), and the original suggested retail price was $12.50.
This Limited Edition 3 blade 3 5/8” stockman (made on the older 855RB frame) has a tang stamp of S.W. CUT over LB-1 USA. It has stainless blades and each of the smaller blades is stamped stainless on the back side. Each has a unique blade etch and coined brass shield affixed on the mark side scale.
Uncle Henry comments on Commemoratives
Henry Baer Memo dated February 4th, 1974
Comments on another Commemorative
The Commemorative Limited Edition Pocket Knives have helped swell the bonuses for *( Schrade salesmen).
The Liberty Bell, LB-1 and Paul Revere, PR-2, were far oversold before we produced the knives, and no. 3 on the “Hit Parade”, the “1775 Minute Man”, is illustrated and described on the page which was sent to you from Ellenville yesterday.
Knife collection seems to be a growth avocation, as shown by the sales far in excess of our production of the Liberty Bell and Paul Revere, which we limited to 2,000 dozen per pattern.
Upon receipt of the catalog pages, kindly contact prospects that you feel could benefit and sell these Limited Edition knives.
You will recognize the pattern as Schrade 855RB. The blades are stainless and the cover is black Delrin.
On previous production of the two Commemoratives we could only ship 2/3's of the orders that were placed, and we’re quite sure the “1775 Minute Man” will follow suit. The total number of knives that we will make on this Limited Edition will only total 480 knives per state.
These knives are offered for shipment in March. Note the brand - S.W. Cut.
Sell from the catalog page using 855RB to show blading, size, etc. All orders must be in Ellenville before February 28th, 1974.
Yours truly,
Henry B. Baer
Now, at the time of the early commems (1971-1980) there was quite a flux in the market for commemorative pocket knives as makers “overproduced” limited editions making them actually less rare than their regular production counterparts for that particular year. It is reported now by Mr. Levine, Mr. Voyles and others that a good number of unsold commemoratives were remaindered for discounted retail sales by several merchants. The makers somewhat learned their lesson on this and later commemoratives were limited to smaller numbers, though the actual issues became more prolific. While it was for some time lamented that the manufacturers had ruined the collectability of commemoratives by driving away collectors who viewed them as investments, rather than collectables for their own sake, the large numbers of early commemoratives produced have proven to be a boon for late-to-the-table collectors who are now able to pick up examples… even whole sets of them for quite reasonable prices.
Another factor which the modern collector would do well to remember, is the prevalence of wholesalers and retailers who sought to have manufacturers make special factory order commemorative knives for them for which they would then present themselves to the public as the makers. These knives, to me at least, are a different subcategory of commemorative knives differentiated from those designed and sold by the manufacturers under their own marks.
Now, this was really nothing new if you remember that Sears, Simmons, Woolworths and Belknap did much the same thing for most of the early part of the century. Private branding goes way back. Kastor even did it in the 1870’s with his imported goods from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia.
In summation, as much as the Kentucky Rifle issue represents a first of sorts in SFO commemoratives, The Liberty Bell LB-1 represents a first of sorts in maker marked Commemorative pocketknives.
Codger
Very recently, Bladeforums.com celebrated an important milestone. 100,000 registered members! To commemorate the event, super Moderator Bastid, Gus, held a contest in the traditional forum giving a Schrade commemorative knife to the winner who could guess at what time on which day he would acknowledge the milestone being reached. Yours truly won. And so in appreciation of the generosity we have come to know on this forum, I promised to research the knife and post a short rant of my findings here.
First a bit of background on commemoratives in general. Until the late 1960’s - early 1970’s, knife collectors generally specialized in antique knives. This changed partly due to the efforts of A.G. Russell and others who organized state and national collector clubs, and made a business of supplying the market with special limited edition and commemorative knives. The knives they commissioned weren’t the first commemoratives by any means, some such as the George Washington Commemorative from Camillus dating back to 1932. But the 1972 Russell SFO “Kentucky Rifle” is recognized as a significant starting point to the modern genre of collectable commemorative knives. There were other knives commissioned for the short series by Mr. Russell from other cutleries, but this one is of particular interest to collectors of Schrade knives and memorabilia, particularly since the closure of Imperial Schrade during their centennial celebration year in July of 2004.
While the Kentucky Rifle issue was very significant in it’s own right, less that a year later in 1973 Schrade Walden produced the first of their own commemorative sets. The first one issued was the LB-1 Liberty Bell followed closely by the second in the series, the PR-2 Paul Revere, and the third in early 1974, the MM-1 Minute Man. The three comprising a set known as the American Revolution Bicentennials.
This is the original flyer from 1973:
When compared to a photograph of the actual knife as produced, you can see that the flyer was an artist’s conception. The blade etch on the knife is in a banner, and the shielding is much smaller.
The black sawcut Delrin Liberty Bell LB-1 knife is part of the American Revolution 3 knife Set, issued in 1973-74, one of the earliest commemoratives by Schrade Walden or any other company. Others in the series are the black Delrin 'Minute Man’ MM-1 (battle of Concord) and the red Delrin Paul Revere PR2. All came in the old style clear acetate tube, with red, white and blue end caps. The serial number is on the inner brass liner on the clip blade side. Schrade originally intended for 24,000 of these made (2,000 dozen by the old cutlery accounting method), and the original suggested retail price was $12.50.
This Limited Edition 3 blade 3 5/8” stockman (made on the older 855RB frame) has a tang stamp of S.W. CUT over LB-1 USA. It has stainless blades and each of the smaller blades is stamped stainless on the back side. Each has a unique blade etch and coined brass shield affixed on the mark side scale.
Uncle Henry comments on Commemoratives
Henry Baer Memo dated February 4th, 1974
Comments on another Commemorative
The Commemorative Limited Edition Pocket Knives have helped swell the bonuses for *( Schrade salesmen).
The Liberty Bell, LB-1 and Paul Revere, PR-2, were far oversold before we produced the knives, and no. 3 on the “Hit Parade”, the “1775 Minute Man”, is illustrated and described on the page which was sent to you from Ellenville yesterday.
Knife collection seems to be a growth avocation, as shown by the sales far in excess of our production of the Liberty Bell and Paul Revere, which we limited to 2,000 dozen per pattern.
Upon receipt of the catalog pages, kindly contact prospects that you feel could benefit and sell these Limited Edition knives.
You will recognize the pattern as Schrade 855RB. The blades are stainless and the cover is black Delrin.
On previous production of the two Commemoratives we could only ship 2/3's of the orders that were placed, and we’re quite sure the “1775 Minute Man” will follow suit. The total number of knives that we will make on this Limited Edition will only total 480 knives per state.
These knives are offered for shipment in March. Note the brand - S.W. Cut.
Sell from the catalog page using 855RB to show blading, size, etc. All orders must be in Ellenville before February 28th, 1974.
Yours truly,
Henry B. Baer
Now, at the time of the early commems (1971-1980) there was quite a flux in the market for commemorative pocket knives as makers “overproduced” limited editions making them actually less rare than their regular production counterparts for that particular year. It is reported now by Mr. Levine, Mr. Voyles and others that a good number of unsold commemoratives were remaindered for discounted retail sales by several merchants. The makers somewhat learned their lesson on this and later commemoratives were limited to smaller numbers, though the actual issues became more prolific. While it was for some time lamented that the manufacturers had ruined the collectability of commemoratives by driving away collectors who viewed them as investments, rather than collectables for their own sake, the large numbers of early commemoratives produced have proven to be a boon for late-to-the-table collectors who are now able to pick up examples… even whole sets of them for quite reasonable prices.
Another factor which the modern collector would do well to remember, is the prevalence of wholesalers and retailers who sought to have manufacturers make special factory order commemorative knives for them for which they would then present themselves to the public as the makers. These knives, to me at least, are a different subcategory of commemorative knives differentiated from those designed and sold by the manufacturers under their own marks.
Now, this was really nothing new if you remember that Sears, Simmons, Woolworths and Belknap did much the same thing for most of the early part of the century. Private branding goes way back. Kastor even did it in the 1870’s with his imported goods from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia.
In summation, as much as the Kentucky Rifle issue represents a first of sorts in SFO commemoratives, The Liberty Bell LB-1 represents a first of sorts in maker marked Commemorative pocketknives.
Codger
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