A New Imperial Double Eagle

ea42

ea42

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Jan 1, 2006
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You folks might recall that a few weeks ago I spotted a NIB Imperial Frontier Double Eagle at my local auto parts store:eek::eek::confused: Well, I went back yesterday and picked it up, had a good coat of tarnish on the brass but other than that it's quite minty. It turns out it was part of a window display about twenty five or so years ago. It's a 4815, still has the tissue paper wrapper, and the box is in great shape. No paperwork, but I wonder if it even came with any as the warranty is printed on the back of the box. Here are a couple of pics (sorry about the somewhat blurry rear shot, either I moved or the camera has some issues):
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Eric
 
Nice! This is one of the Camillus made Imperials which Tom Williams (CAMCO) told us about!

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New old stock, there's nothing like it! looks a fine example, well done Eric.

Rusty1
 
Thanks for this thread Eric. what an excellent find. the "Double Eagle" branding is new to me. were they Imperial's top of the line ? and is there a full range of Double Eagle patterns ? roland
 
Hi,
I know this is an old thread but I hope this information helps...

The Frontier/Double Eagle lines by Imperial Knives USA were I guess what you could call a response to Schrade USA's knife lines back in the late 70's to mid 80's.For example the powderhorn emblem Frontier knives were primarily in 1095 Carbon Steel like Old Timer. The Double Eagle as you might have guessed were the response to Uncle Henry in 440-A Stainless.The Frontier and Double Eagle line were the last line of knives to be made by Imperial before the brand ceased as an American made knife manufacturer. Don't get me wrong I'm a big Schrade USA fan but Imperial could have made a pretty big name as a competitor had they survived another decade with this knife line.
 
Schrade and Imperial at that time may have had internal competition, but they were under one ownership.
 
And had been in cooperative manufacturing since WWII as IKAC (Imperial Knife Associated Companies). They took on a lot of projects together during and especially after the war. Post circa 1983, all Imperial knives were made either in the Schrade plant in Ellenville, or made for them in the Camillus factory which they also owned, purchasing the final shares circa 1963. Let's not mention Mexico and Ireland and Taiwan.

Interesting the pictures the photohosting sites substitute for ours five or six years on, wot?
 
..double posting. sorry.. now I have to put something here....reminds me of the celebratory tiny meatballs served after the bull fight..when the diner complained.....Si Senor..the bull he does not always lose!.....
 
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...so why not mention Imperial Mexico Senor?...... I still have the 24 Imperial Salesmans samples made in Mexico in the 1950's and stamped and model marked accordingly....saved from the 'wall collection' liquidation according to Hermann Williams as they were inadvertently stored in a box in the Schrade vault with Albert's wife's extensive glass collection.....and they never got round to display them..they were kept intact in their box...I have that box as well......Si Senor.......Hoo Roo
 
Imperials were also made in Ireland. I only collect Imperial Frontiers made in the USA. Right now I am up to 118 knives but I don't have one of each model yet.
 
edbeau said:
Imperials were also made in Ireland. I only collect Imperial Frontiers made in the USA. Right now I am up to 118 knives but I don't have one of each model yet.
Click to expand...

I thought we weren't going to mention Ireland? Well, purchasing the jabba wookie Jowika factory in Listowel Ireland from Eugen Weber seems to have turned out to be one of Baer's less than stellar business decisions. At least in retrospect.
 
The Imperial Frontier Powderhorn series of knives (1976 - 1985) are fairly easy to understand. Double Eagle blade etch was only use on the wooden handled knives. The blades are stainless. The other Frontiers with Delrin scales are high carbon steel. The way they are marked is by the first two numbers are the series, third number is the number of blades and the fourth number is the scale material. There were 9 series of folding knives made. There were some fixed blade knives made that carry the Frontier mark (8 types).

The All-American series (1985 - 1989) was three sizes of knives, all have stainless blades.

The Diamondbrite series (1982) was six sizes of knives, all have stainless blades
 
Noticed the picture on top doesn't work anymore so here is a picture of a 4815 for reference.

 
On Codger's post, he has a "S" card for the AA-51. Here is a picture of the AA or All american series.

 
The other "S" card is for an 4431 which is a 4" Stockman with Delrin Stag . It is the top one in the picture.

 
I have the S-cards for all three All-Americans. In fact, Camillus also made a variant of the pattern for Sears Craftsman.

Behold the 95232 lockback.

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Not entirely true edbeau.Concerning the slipjoint knives, yes the delrin handled powderhorn handle emblem models were in 1095 Carbon Steel, and the wooden scaled/brass bolstered/blade etched in Double Eagle line were in 440A Stainless Steel.But if you look at the 45 Series of 4" sportsman lockbacks,all of the delrin scaled models were in stainless steel.The fixed blades that were in white delrin scales were all in 1095 I believe except for the fillet knives.

This makes me think of the original Uncle Henry and Old Timer lines for example.Most people heard the word 'Uncle Henry' and they think of Plus Steel (stainless) ,but they did use 1095 on some fixed blades.On Old Timer 1095 comes to mind as their primary steel.But you ask most people who have a 7OT they'll say it's in the Plus Steel.But from 1978-1982 and 1991-1996...it's blade was offered in 1095.Interesting but confusing things like that with Imperial-Schrade just aren't so cut and dry
 
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Looking at my records, all 4 models of the 4" Sportsman lockbacks were stainless blades. The fixed blades were high carbon for the delrin and stainless for the wood except for the fillet knives that were both stainless. I only have one flexible fillet knife. I am up to 130 Frontiers but not all. I have more than a few of some models. I guess it took three years for someone to find my mistake in my explanation of Frontier knives. Good find, Frotier76.
 
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