A Special Knife

R

rprocter

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i have just won the 14th knife of the 13 Colonies knife set, issued in 1976 (special order for Parker Frost i believe) for the Bicentennial. it is a clasp pattern (usually 5") in stag with a blade etch naming all 13 colonies.
it comes at what i think is a bargain price from a most respected ebay seller of Schrade knives. there were only 4 other bidders, none of which i could recognize as forum members.
this knife was previously in the collection of Mr. Albert Baer.
i feel it an honor to have one of Mr. Baer's knives and a little unworthy as i am a Schrade "dabbler" compared to some of the serious collectors with museum quality displays.
i am not sure what i will do with this knife, other than it will not join my large pile of excellent users.
i do wonder however why more experienced collectors, did not go for this knife. roland
 
G'Day Roland, He is a most respected seller who has an enviable collection and you have done well as I bought his other unnumbered identical clasp.Please dont take this the wrong way as that seller has a quirky sense of humour which I have learnt to appreciate but he was having a 'go' at sellers who will give a piece of paper authenticating anything particularly one who is selling the 3rd millionth Schrade salesmens knives with authentication paper. I believe this elderly gentleman did know Albert, Henry and some Schrade Presidents however I think you will find it was said rather tongue in cheek that it was Albert's and he would give a bit of authenticating paper if requested, and you may wish to confirm this with him.. however I didn't want you to sell it perhaps in future with the stated Baer history. You purchased a beautiful Stag Clasp at a very reasonable price and I trust you accept this info in the way intended please as he is an honourable gentleman. Hoo Roo
 
Larry, i always appreciate your posts and your knife knowledge. i have bought a number of knives from this seller & spouse and their answers to my email questions are always answered succinctly and with understatement (opposite of hype). it did not occur to me that stated origin of knife was tongue in cheek. the seller offered a letter stating that knife was from Albert Baer's collection, so i will see what it says when knife arrives.
i suppose to stretch a point, one could say that all Schrade knives produced during Mr. Baer's ownership were his before they were sold to someone else.
i'll post when knife arrives. i may be naive, but i still think the seller might have been giving the "straight goods". great, love the suspense, roland
 
i now have this un-numbered 13 Colonies stag clasp knife and subsequent communication with seller. Larry303, what you say in above post re: "tongue in cheek" is correct. amazing, in my 7th decade and still gullible ! seller states accurate history as "i can tell you that one was the first one set which came from Rhode Island for approval. as you notice there are no numbers on them it was on Alberts desk."
so this would make it a "sample" ? (vs. prototype) and why would it come from Rhode Island ? made in Imperial factory ?
c'mon Larry303, please help me out again. roland:)
 
G'Day Roland, Unnumbered sample or overrun for Guarantee purposes ..who know's.. but they remain beautiful examples of these clasps..this old gentleman got his knives direct from factory through the years and in fact lived in the Walden/Ellenville area for 70 odd years.As you know he has a name very similar to the other, now departed to another forum, "Expert".I believe this gentlemans knowledge of the actual Schrade history and the story's behind the knives produced through that period to be equal to or better than most and he definately knew/knows the principal players.If we could get him posting on here our inside knowledge would be hugely enhanced with accurate contemporary knowledge.I am urging him to do this and email pages from here to him to read so we're getting there albeit slowly! I will see what I can find out about the Rhode Island comment. Hoo Roo

P.S. I have purchased a number of knives from him and something he doesn't often point out as its less important to him than perhaps to us is the amazingly low serial number on his knives e.g. I just got MinuteMan which is #00008...and I have other examples.He obviously was very quick off the mark with each issue...OR was in a priviledged position which I believe is more correct.
 
thanks Larry, yes i consider it an honour to own knives from this seller, but i did not want to email them further as they have expressed fatigue in at least 1 ebay listing. so am pleased to hear you have "special pipeline" 'cause i would like to now what the connection to Rhode Island is. maybe Codger knows ? he knows a lotta Schradey stuff. roland
 
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