A flea market find that I didn't know existed...

PocketKnifeJimmy

PocketKnifeJimmy

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Aug 4, 2013
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It was Sunday flea market excursion time this morning for me. While I was perusing the wares, I ran into a small bucket of knives. Of course my immediate action was to start going through the lot. It was all new'ish condition stuff, but everything did seem to be lower end imported stuff.
Anyhow, I noticed this lockback with it's ricasso stamped "Paramount"/"USA", and what seems to be a model number.
I thought it was pretty nice overall, but had no clue of the Paramount name brand. Oh well, I decided to ask how much it was. The guy then responds with saying, "I think everything in there is likely Chinese made... I'll take 5 bucks".
I figured, why not... Sold!
Anyhow, it seems it is indeed a USA made product. After a little online research, I turned up that it was made by the Utica Cutlery company in the USA.
That's all I know thus far, but am hoping somebody here will be able to give me more insight about it. Maybe it's vintage, the Paramount stamping, and if it's still an offered model knife.
Thanks in advance, folks!



Btw, it seems totally unused, having it's original factory edge, and about 99.9% overall condition.
 
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Thanks!
Yup, that be the knife
It's still being sold for just a hair over $46, but that includes a leather sheath.
Either way, I guess $5 was a good deal ☺
Thanks again!

Btw, the blade is very similar to the Buck 110 clip point, (not an exact blade copy, but very similar).
That said, it has a few cool traits of it's own.
*Unlike my 110's, the spine portion in the back that is exposed for unlocking the blade, better fills the opening.
*The thickness of the frame is noticeably thinner than that of the 110.
*The laminated wood scale's pins are flush, unlike the protruding rounded heads left for the pinning of the 110 scales.
Not that any of that matters much, it's just nice to see it having some of it's own features, rather than being a straight 110 copy
 
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Actually, my digging online has pretty much verified Utica Cutlery being the source for these Paramount knives, I then looked to see if Utica Cutlery offers the same knives under their own brand name, and they do. They are indeed listed USA made. It's basically Utica's rendition of the 110, similar to what the USA Schrade and USA Camillus did when they were in business.
 
Yup. Much of Utica's business is in making knives for others with the names of the others on them. Some knives are made offshore and some are made on Noyes Street. As OP has found, their website and catalog are pretty good about telling you which are which. Nice knife.
 
So, it seems that "Paramount" hand tools is in fact a brand name of products, (tools), made for and sold by the MSC firm, (which is a large industrial supply company for the manufacturing world).
The MSC firm has been around since the early 1940's, and has many locations throughout the USA and abroad, (it's main headquarters located in Melville NY).
Here is a brief description of their "Paramount" brand offerings...

https://www.manufacturing.net/product-release/2012/09/paramount-hand-tools

So, in general, it's like Sears did with their Craftsmen brand of tools... Other firms were simply contracted to make the products for them, meeting a certain quality level of expectation.

Up until purchasing this knife yesterday, I had not heard of either brand, (Paramount nor MSC). It seems MSC launched their "Paramount Tools" brand name during the year 2012.




They actually offer quite a few of the Utica Cutlery US made folding knives under their Paramount brand.

I always enjoy gaining some new tid bits of info on the items I collect... It's a neat part of my collecting hobby ☺
 
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