Who Made These For Sears Roebuck?

L

lambertiana

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I just got a copy of the 1902 Sears Roebuck catalog (1162 pages), and, of course, went to the cutlery section first. What struck me was the paragraph that said that they own their own factory in New York, which was under the direct management of one of the largest and best cutlery makers in the country. Who could that have been? The two biggest possibilities that I can think of are Ulster and New York Knife Company. Others that may be candidates, but were not as big, would have been Walden and Cattaraugus (although Camillus was a major contractor for other brands, I think 1902 was too early for them). So who do you think it was? You will have to pardon the picture quality, with the thick catalog it is difficult to get the binding side of the page in focus because of the curvature when laid flat on the scanner.
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The entire catalog is a treasure trove in history. And I would love to get some of the guns they have advertised, for the catalog price.
 
Great prices for sure! Much later knives were made by Schrade and Camillus.
 
Napanoch Knife Co. of Napanoch N.Y. made knives for Sears at that time. They were a high quality knife maker that sold out to Winchester in 1919 to seed Winchesters bid to rival Remington as cutlerers. Whether or not Napanoch made those particular knives in the catalogue I don't know but the time frame and quality is correct.
 
I have that very Knife pictured at the very bottom - I must look at the Stamping when I get home I am sure it’s not Sears though.
Interesting reading the description- as my knife seems to be of decent quality - I will look into this when home :thumbsup:

EDIT:
Just remembered- A D Wadsworth is what is stamped on my knife - as we know under the umbrella of Kastor Bros.
 
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Thanks for posting those pages from the catalog. It was very interesting reading! :cool::thumbsup::thumbsup:
I wonder if anyone here lubricates their knives with Vaseline, as the catalog suggests.
The writer of the "introductory section" sure pulled no punches about the superior quality and price of the knives!
Did "stag" as a handle description in 1902 mean the same thing as it does now? Many of the "stag handles" look more like jigged bone to me.

- GT
 
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It's interesting to me that not only did they specify the angle to sharpen them to, but recommended Vaseline to oil the joints.

You'd think a company that started by mail order could have done better getting on the internet. RIP Sears...
 
5K Qs said:
Thanks for posting those pages from the catalog. It was very interesting reading! :cool::thumbsup::thumbsup:
I wonder if anyone here lubricates their knives with Vaseline, as the catalog suggests.
The writer of the "introductory section" sure pulled no punches about the superior quality and price of the knives!
Did "stag" as a handle description in 1902 mean the same thing as it does now? Many of the "stag handles" look more like jigged bone to me.

- GT
Click to expand...

In the old catalogs, "stag" means jigged bone. "Genuine stag" means antler.

eisman said:
It's interesting to me that not only did they specify the angle to sharpen them to, but recommended Vaseline to oil the joints.

You'd think a company that started by mail order could have done better getting on the internet. RIP Sears...
Click to expand...

So true. Sears was THE pioneer in mail order catalogs, but just didn't transition to the internet well.
 
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