Since you're advertising them,I'll take 20.
The Schrade sure held its value a heck of a lot better than the $22.00 did!
Yes, devaluation of currency is a fact of life. If these knives were sold new today, the price would approach $100 each, if not a bit more. Consider that the first Golden spikes listed for $30 in the latter half of 1973, and by 2004 had increased to $70.00. You cannot buy gas at 2004 prices any more. Those 20 knives would set you back $2,000.00 now. And really, you can still buy them occasionaly in mint condition for about that amount still, so they are not outragously priced, especially for a knife discontinued fifteen years ago.
...did all of the knives of that age with a guard have that guard snap strap then later change to the handle strap on the sheath..
The first ones used that sheath. Many of the illustrations were reused for years, both by Schrade themselves, and by the vendors like Belknap (this illustration came from my 1974 Belknap catalog). Schrade changed the illustration in their own catalogs in 1972, but I believe the sheath changed much earlier than that. Earlier serialed NIB examples seem to bear this out.
...It is interesting that they called it Meerschaum....I guess that sounded better than plastic...
Henry and Albert Baer were quite inventive with names, as a search of their trademarks shows. They made good use of unique descriptions and trade names for the materials used in their knives. A good marketing tool. The
Genuine Saw Cut Delrin, as we have come to know it, had several descriptive names over the years. First I think it was called
Staglon(sometimes seen as
Stagalon). Then the name was used for "stagged" Delrin handles. In 1964, it was
Bone Meerschaum. In 1965 it was
Meerschaum Unbreakable Plastic. In 1966 it was
Genuine Staglon. In 1970,
Genuine Saw Cut Staglon. In 1993, they became
Sawcut Staglon. Not until 1996 did they become
Sawcut Delrin. 1998 they were
Unbreakable Sawcut Handles.
Unbreakable Sawcut Delrin was used in 1999. These are from catalog listings, so in advertising and inserts, etc., you may see different time frames for the name uses. The 1997
What Makes A Great Knife booklet says that Delrin and Staglon handles differ only in appearance. At least they didn't call it D-Horn!
Codger