A couple Colonial brand knives to be added to my collection...

PocketKnifeJimmy

PocketKnifeJimmy

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Aug 4, 2013
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I have two Colonial brand knives on the way. They are coming from two different sellers. Both were listed as having some years under their belts, but both unused & having original factory edges. I am not personally familiar with Colonial, even though I have read some posts here on this forum pertaining to this brand. I seem to take that they were a U.S. firm based out of Rhode Island that mostly made some inexpensive user pocket knives and inexpensive novelty/advertisement knives. I am hoping that I have chosen two that represent these two practices of theirs well (a basic pocket knife & a novelty/advertising type knife). They were likely very inexpensive when first sold, and my paying just over $22 for both items (which includes their shipping costs), still keeps them in the inexpensive league, by today's standards. Seems the original Colonial firm went belly up, but it has since been placed back on the market. These two knives are from the original firm.

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The automobile shaped knife was described as likely having been made during the late 1960's to early 1970's. The other knife description had no such info, so if anybody here has info on a possible age, or any other info you can share... I would appreciate it :)
 
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Hi,

Colonial, (and Imperial), just don't seem to get much love from collectors. I like the top knife, I've never seen a Colonial of that type. My Father loved the Camp King and carried one for many years. I never warmed up to the Colonials myself, but I do have a couple around here. A tiny Jack and a Camp King of course.

Their advertising knives are seemingly infinite and could provide years of collecting fun. I think my very first knife was a Colonial pen knife Dekalb seed corn give away. I think the car is quite facinating. Certainly interesting to car fanatics.

Enjoy them! I think Colonials are important to have. They represent a large part of US cutlery history.

Dale
 
Thanks! With my collection first being national, then international... then simply being labled "diverse"... they should fit right in :)
 
dalee100 said:
Hi,

Colonial, (and Imperial), just don't seem to get much love from collectors. I like the top knife, I've never seen a Colonial of that type. My Father loved the Camp King and carried one for many years. I never warmed up to the Colonials myself, but I do have a couple around here. A tiny Jack and a Camp King of course.

Their advertising knives are seemingly infinite and could provide years of collecting fun. I think my very first knife was a Colonial pen knife Dekalb seed corn give away. I think the car is quite facinating. Certainly interesting to car fanatics.

Enjoy them! I think Colonials are important to have. They represent a large part of US cutlery history.

Dale
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They're great cutting knives. Also they are the knives I grew up owning, shell handles and all.

I'm on the lookout for some Imperial and Colonial shell knives without the "slabs" for cheap. Heaven knows I had a drawer full of them as a kid. I wanna figure out a way to add slabs easily.

Not to hijack the thread. I've never seen one as clean and new looking as the top one (both actually).
 
Nice choices +very interesting ,you'll be very pleased with both.Been carrying an imperial jack knife for a couple weeks now and didn't realize how sharp and how well the edge holds up. Cant complain I only paid $1.67 for it. We tend to forget about these old working knives because of all the glitz and glamour of the higher priced knives.
God Bless
Tracy
 
Colonials are pretty decent knives. They are a tad higher standard than Imperials, if for no other reason than not typically using shell handles, but a different and more robust construction. However, Imperial's steel is/was pretty close to the beloved Schrade 1095 (even prior to the buyout by Schrade) and I don't think Colonial's was quite as good. You also see more stainless Colonials.

There is still a Colonial knife company, but it's sort of shrouded in mystery and controversy as to where they source their knives.
 
davek14 said:
They're great cutting knives. Also they are the knives I grew up owning, shell handles and all.

I'm on the lookout for some Imperial and Colonial shell knives without the "slabs" for cheap. Heaven knows I had a drawer full of them as a kid. I wanna figure out a way to add slabs easily.

Not to hijack the thread. I've never seen one as clean and new looking as the top one (both actually).
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Hi,

I've replaced and upgraded Colonial scales. I just epoxied them on. And people don't seem to realize just how good the steel is on these things. Some pretty awesome plain high carbon. Even the stainless is pretty nice. I like them a lot. It's pretty easy to get hooked on them I think.

Now I need to go get my Colonial and swap the Camillus #21 out for it.

Dale
 
I notice that Imperial and Colonial get mentioned in the samr realm of things... were these two firms somehow connected? I believe I read somewhere that some Imperial knife models were made in Rhode Island as well... Was Colonial contracted by Imperial to make knives for them? Love all the learning one can do on knife history :)
 
I have a few Colonials and quite a few Imperials. The Colonials are mostly advertising knives and I love to collect them. Colonial, Imperial and Camillus were all Northeastern knife companies.
 
bdev said:
PocketKnifeJimmy,

Check this out for Colonial info.....
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_forum/viewforum.php?f=87
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Thanks for the link :)
Some reading over there, turned up that the original Imperial owners and the original Colonial owners, were actually cousins, and that they did in fact work together at times... I guess that explains the similarities we may see. Also, seems the original Colonial closed in 1998... the new firm using that name is only the same in using the name... as we see happen often with defunct firms that later have their names purchased by others. Neat stuff... the education continues... and it's interesting and lots of fun! :)

Ahh... gives me an idea (which I may or may not stick with). Maybe the next display I fill will be only with knives made from the year 1900 to the year 1999... making it a "last century display" :)
 
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My first of two Colonial knives came in the mail today. This is a late 60's early 70's vintage novelty automobile shaped knife. Obviously nothing special, just a cool object for a knife collector, such as myself :)
It was described online as being new old stock, and it certainly is that. Again, just an inexpensive gizmo ($10 total) to add some extra diversity and interest to my collection :)
 
Wow, that is some knife. I have a Colonial Barlow with the screwdriver blade onstead of the pen blade. That knife is in great shape.
 
Thank you! :)
I admit to feeling like a giddy 8 year old boy while oiling the joints, wiping her down, and getting a chance to inspect this little gem. She is definitely the kind of knife I first had a chance to own as a kid. If the sod buster is simple elegance... then this may be "cheap five and dime satisfaction"... lol! She is truly in new condition, and will proudly be displayed in my collection :)

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Btw... this knife does not sport some imitation handle scales... this baby has 100% real authentic genuine plastic scales, lol! ;)
 
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With us having discussed both Imperial and Colonial knives in this thread... And, us discussing novelty knives and shell handle knives... I looked around to see if I could find pics online of shell handled knives in dismantled form. Well, here is a link to another forum's thread that discusses this subject. Btw, the Colonial knife I received today is obviously along these same lines of construction (kind'a like the Imperial Kamp King knives). A neat read...

https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=21596
 
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PocketKnifeJimmy said:
o8f3g5.jpg


The automobile shaped knife was described as likely having been made during the late 1960's to early 1970's. The other knife description had no such info, so if anybody here has info on a possible age, or any other info you can share... I would appreciate it :)
Click to expand...

Hey PKJ, I was just looking through this thread ( again ) and I wondered if that Automobile knife was made because of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - as sad as it sounds it was very popular!
 
Hmm... maybe you got something there, Duncan.... It may sound even more sad when I admit to enjoying it as a kid too, lol! Ahh... maybe that's why it called out to me to buy it... my inner childhood :)
 
PocketKnifeJimmy said:
With us having discussed both Imperial and Colonial knives in this thread... And, us discussing novelty knives and shell handle knives... I looked around to see if I could find pics online of shell handled knives in dismantled form. Well, here is a link to another forum's thread that discusses this subject. Btw, the Colonial knife I received today is obviously along these same lines of construction (kind'a like the Imperial Kamp King knives). A neat read...

https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=21596
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. I just picked up an Imperial campers knife where the shell scales had that silver, bare metal color. I thought it was made that way. Now I know that the plastic covers are missing.

This thing was covered with red rust and I had to force everything but the main blade open. Instead of trying to clean it up I tried painting it inside and out with rust converter and followed with an oil/solvent soak. It's now black and quite ugly.

Still, this $.50 knife has a full, carbon steel blade and is a better knife than the Rough Rider I picked up as a gift when I bought it. I was going to pop the scales off and add homemade ones. Now though, I see the knife is sound and solid. It was just a lump of rust at first. I think I'll carry it and see what those shell scales will take.
 
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