Western Fixed Blade Knife Question

tongueriver said:
The 48, 58 and 77 patterns in the Boulder years were all variations of an excellent bird and trout knife. By the way, interested parties should know that a good many '0ld' Westerns are coming out of Colorado over the last year or so at astronomical prices, with the colored handles; they are NOT original, but very nice. Here are a couple that are original.
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Now that's a couple of beautiful knives! The Cracked Ice 48 below them is one of the nicest I've seen.

Cal, I've seen those "Old" ones also. They are very nicely done. Hope no one here has bought one thinking they were original.
 
mitch4ging said:
Love my H40, will look for a 39 now, thanks to MMMonk!
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Nice one, Mitch! :thumbsup::thumbsup: They're great knives and fun to collect/use.
 
tongueriver said:
email me @ CALVINPRUETT4@GMAIL.COM and I will send a .pdf of an Oregon Knife Club Newsletter which has a very comprehensive article on the Black Beauty knives.
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The article has a lot of good information, but there are at least 2 errors in the article in my opinion -

In the list of handle materials, "S" is listed as the code for Delrin. Dupont came out with Delrin commercially in 1960 and in 1961, Western replaced the use of bone across the board, and retained the use of "6" as an indicator of Delrin for its handle material. "S" as a handle indicator was only used to indicate stainless steel blades.

The article indicates that Western went to a WESTERN over USA stamp in 1961. That shift actually happened with the 1973 knives.

The first appearance of the BB knives in an official catalog was the 1960 catalog. The author references a friend as remembering the BBs being around in 1957.

I have not seen anything in catalog advertising indicating that, but I ceased looking through old magazines for ads on Western knives when I moved to the farm in 2003 and it became a 50+ mile drive to the University of Texas - Austin Perry-Castenada Library archives and I had only gotten up to 1954 in my searching.
 
(((sigh))) I only have two Western's.
An L66 with a "D" date code, and a "Demo Knife" the Army Reserves gave me in 1975. :oops:
 
My grandfather's Western. He was so proud of this knife, remember him taking it hunting and fishing with us but you can see he kept it pristine. IIRC someone here advised it was produced around 1931? Not that I would ever sell it, but considering am a platinum member I believe it's ok for me to ask it's value. If I am asking in the wrong place, please don't bite my head off. Thanks.

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Chief said:
I believe it's ok for me to ask it's value. If I am asking in the wrong place, please don't bite my head off. Thanks.
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Wonderful old Western, John! It's great that you ended up with it.
This is as good a place as any to ask about value. Membership has it's privileges! :)
There will be no heads bitten off!
 
Chief said:
My grandfather's Western. He was so proud of this knife, remember him taking it hunting and fishing with us but you can see he kept it pristine. IIRC someone here advised it was produced around 1931? Not that I would ever sell it, but considering am a platinum member I believe it's ok for me to ask it's value. If I am asking in the wrong place, please don't bite my head off. Thanks.

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John, It is definitely 1930s... blade profile, jimping on the spine, red/black spacers, pommel shape and the leather sheath embossed with the "bronco buster" (for lack of a better or correct term). I believe it's the 44 pattern which was made with 5-inch and 6-inch blades.

On the reverse ricasso, is it stamped? If so, with "Pat. Pend." or "Patented" or "Pat. No. 1,967,479" (number designates patent for the double tang, 1931)?

I'm no expert on vintage Westerns (or appraisals for that matter), but if it were mine and it had no sentimental value, I probably wouldn't take less than $500.00. Heck, that sheath alone could bring a couple hundred bucks (if it's a buyer who knows what they're looking at).

It's a really beautiful knife!
 
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MerryMadMonk MerryMadMonk Al, thank you sir, had no idea it was worth that much and never would have guessed. Will put a note in with it so my son will realize it has more than sentimental value in case he needs to sell it someday.

black mamba black mamba Jeff, thanks. Mom was an only child and I only had one sister so am lucky to have inherited the man keepsakes without much fuss.

Peregrin Peregrin Thanks Gary. I don't sell many knives so not savvy on all the rules, but will always support the forum.
 
You're welcome, John. I'll have to add that regardless what I think, the market will dictate, but I'd expect no less than 5 Benjamins.
 
Wow and wow, on that one; I have been looking for something akin to that one for years; finally gave up. I do have some yummy old Westerns, though!
Meanwhile the stamping is not completely computing for me, especially in combination with the 1930s sheath.
 
MerryMadMonk said:
On the reverse ricasso, is it stamped? If so, with "Pat. Pend." or "Patented" or "Pat. No. 1,967,479" (number designates patent for the double tang, 1931)?

I'm no expert on vintage Westerns (or appraisals for that matter), but if it were mine and it had no sentimental value, I probably wouldn't take less than $500.00. Heck, that sheath alone could bring a couple hundred bucks (if it's a buyer who knows what they're looking at).

It's a really beautiful knife!
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Thanks again, pretty sure it's Pat. Pend. but will have to dig in the safe to verify. Curious because this thread made it pertinent, no way I could sell it. If my boy cuts it loose someday, won't be on me but at least he'll know what it should bring.
 
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