Codger_64
Moderator
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2004
- Messages
- 62,324
I’ve been working on several projects lately. One of those is to identify the knives sold by Sears Roebuck & Co. during the war and postwar period of 1940 - 1950. I am still tracking down original catalogs, scanning and cleaning images, listing and doing the groundwork. It takes more time than you would think to work up the information contained in a single year’s catalog, not even counting trying to determine the makers of the individual knives. And each year had three main catalogs, Spring - Summer, Fall - Winter and of course the famous Christmas Wishbook. From examining my existing archives, I know that the Fall - Winter catalog was the “biggie” that cutleries depended upon for the bulk of their years sales of Sears knives. And yet the other two often had special offerings not shown in that book.
Most recently acquired was the Fall - Winter catalog for 1949-50.
The 1949-50 Sears Roebuck Fall & Winter catalog had one full page of pocket knives, 28 in all, and a selection of folding hunting knives in the sporting section.
Trademarked store brand names were noticeably absent with the exception of Craftsman. Sta-Sharp, Dunlap and Kwik Kut were only found in the shears and tool departments. J.C. Higgins was in sporting goods, not knives shown, and Ted Williams was yet to become a Sears spokesman lending his name to Sears products. Most of the knives that the ad copy identified the steel were high carbon steel, Chrome Vanadium steel, or “alloy steel”. Handle materials mentioned were pyralin (celluloid), plastic stag-type, plastic agate, stainless, rosewood on the pruner, simulated pearl plastic, genuine mother of pearl, and bone stag.
Here are a few of the cleaned images from 1949.
Ever wonder where those “Johnny Muskrat” knives came from?
Most recently acquired was the Fall - Winter catalog for 1949-50.
The 1949-50 Sears Roebuck Fall & Winter catalog had one full page of pocket knives, 28 in all, and a selection of folding hunting knives in the sporting section.
Trademarked store brand names were noticeably absent with the exception of Craftsman. Sta-Sharp, Dunlap and Kwik Kut were only found in the shears and tool departments. J.C. Higgins was in sporting goods, not knives shown, and Ted Williams was yet to become a Sears spokesman lending his name to Sears products. Most of the knives that the ad copy identified the steel were high carbon steel, Chrome Vanadium steel, or “alloy steel”. Handle materials mentioned were pyralin (celluloid), plastic stag-type, plastic agate, stainless, rosewood on the pruner, simulated pearl plastic, genuine mother of pearl, and bone stag.
Here are a few of the cleaned images from 1949.
Ever wonder where those “Johnny Muskrat” knives came from?
