Larry was correct in saying that he had seen these before. They are Schrade production 7OT knives, and they do roughly date to the same time period as the introduction of the LB7's. I did a bit of digging, and this is a summation of what I found.
Imperial Knife Associated companies, under the direction of Albert and Henry Baer, expanded their manufacturing capabilities during a boom year of 1977. They bought the Richards Holdings of and Rogers Wolstenholm also of Sheffield, England. In Listowel, Ireland, they purchased what would become the Imperial Stag facility. In the United States, they built a lockback manufacturing facility at Ellenville, and began one also at the Imperial factory in Providence, Rhode Island. The LB7 Bear Paw was first manufactured in late 1977. 1979 was the first catalog listing, but the knife was in full production a year earlier and advertised in the July, 1978 American Rifleman Magazine.
The success of the LB7 prompted Schrade to add an Old Timer version, the 7OT Cave Bear to their lineup, though for whatever reasons, it was not added to their catalogs until well into the mid 1990's.
First produced in late 1978, the 7OT was made in short production runs of small quantities lasting until the final 26 units were shipped in 1982. A total of about 110,000 of these were shipped over that five year period, with an additional 12,000 pieces noted as “7OTND”, possibly being the ones now seen having a “Schrade 75th Anniversary” blade etch.
Apparently, after having been out of production for seven years, production resumed in 1990, and in 1995 the 7OT Cave Bear was at last added to the catalogs in the Lockback family of Schrade Old Timer knives. It was essentially an LB7, but with Sawcut Delrin covers and the OT signature shield replacing the “Winewood” fibron impregnated covers on the LB7 series. The tangstamps may be seen on the mark side with SCHRADE+ over 7OT U.S.A., or SCHRADE over U.S.A. 7OT (presumably on the first production run). The 7OT remained in the catalog in 2004, the company’s last year, when it’s MSRP was $56.95. The price when introduced in 1991 was $42.95.
Earliest knives will be found in the brown woodgrain boxes, then tan “Sharp Idea” boxes, then in 2002-03 in the blue striped boxes and clampacks, and finally in 2003-04, in the blue flag boxes and clampacks.
Michael
