Interesting quote from Sheldon_Wickersham (on the Jerzeedevil forum) I found on this whole confused issue:
"SERE - you have to understand that when someone says it wasn't 'authorized', and therefore 'fake', there's more to the story than that. The way I heard it - Sakai made the knives for AMK, both the knives sold in the US and abroad. Al Mar had the US distribution rights to the knives with his name brand as sold in the US only - Sakai had the distribution rights everywhere else.
When Al died suddenly, and his wife went postal on the whole flippin' knife community from the top on down; shuttered the business, fired all the US employee's, and left everyone involved with AMK in quite a lurch - Sakai didn't buy into her hissy fit. They had a contract, knives they could legally make under the original contract, and a business to run - and they did. That doesn't make the knives fakes or unauthorized in my book.
They probably figured that when Al's wife sold the business it would pick up where it left off, but it didn't. Part of the sale contract was wording that the new owner couldn't make the old style knives any longer, so he started making the new knife designs. But, Sakai wasn't so limited, and continued to make the old style knives - so, for awhile, you had old and new knives being produced simultaneously, both with the same name, but as/by different companies.
So, the new owner, in a roundabout way is going to say they're not authorized, not-legit, and fakes - and a few people, usually sellers of 'new' AMK products, are going to echo that position. Say it enough times and it almost becomes believeable - almost.
FWIW, Scott is one of my best and longest running friends in the cutlery business, going back over a dozen years - but he and I have a long standing disagreement on this subject...as always, YMMV"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The final verdict then seems to be that the only way to know has to be a judgement on the quality of the final item...
Then on the issue of the poorly done "JAPAN" etching, maybe this sheds some light...:
"Yes, it could be that each was serialized; I haven't checked. As to the 'No Seki' comment, could be several things going on here...
At first, Al Mar had his blades etched USA, but not all were made in the US, so he was told (by Customs I believe) to (re)etch with the correct country of origin - so, you see some etched USA, some Seki, some with both, and some with no country of origin etch at all...
It really boils down to exactly when the knife was made during this etch transition period. Also, I'm not sure that the F/S knife shown above was made in either the US 'or' Japan. I know the versions with serrations by the guard (another variant) were made in Japan, but the straight blades could easily be old British stock - and Al might not have been sure either...
Hope that helps"
No mention of a "JAPAN" etching, but it does seem to support the "improvised" look of the etching on the first knife above...
Gaston
"SERE - you have to understand that when someone says it wasn't 'authorized', and therefore 'fake', there's more to the story than that. The way I heard it - Sakai made the knives for AMK, both the knives sold in the US and abroad. Al Mar had the US distribution rights to the knives with his name brand as sold in the US only - Sakai had the distribution rights everywhere else.
When Al died suddenly, and his wife went postal on the whole flippin' knife community from the top on down; shuttered the business, fired all the US employee's, and left everyone involved with AMK in quite a lurch - Sakai didn't buy into her hissy fit. They had a contract, knives they could legally make under the original contract, and a business to run - and they did. That doesn't make the knives fakes or unauthorized in my book.
They probably figured that when Al's wife sold the business it would pick up where it left off, but it didn't. Part of the sale contract was wording that the new owner couldn't make the old style knives any longer, so he started making the new knife designs. But, Sakai wasn't so limited, and continued to make the old style knives - so, for awhile, you had old and new knives being produced simultaneously, both with the same name, but as/by different companies.
So, the new owner, in a roundabout way is going to say they're not authorized, not-legit, and fakes - and a few people, usually sellers of 'new' AMK products, are going to echo that position. Say it enough times and it almost becomes believeable - almost.
FWIW, Scott is one of my best and longest running friends in the cutlery business, going back over a dozen years - but he and I have a long standing disagreement on this subject...as always, YMMV"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The final verdict then seems to be that the only way to know has to be a judgement on the quality of the final item...
Then on the issue of the poorly done "JAPAN" etching, maybe this sheds some light...:
"Yes, it could be that each was serialized; I haven't checked. As to the 'No Seki' comment, could be several things going on here...
At first, Al Mar had his blades etched USA, but not all were made in the US, so he was told (by Customs I believe) to (re)etch with the correct country of origin - so, you see some etched USA, some Seki, some with both, and some with no country of origin etch at all...
It really boils down to exactly when the knife was made during this etch transition period. Also, I'm not sure that the F/S knife shown above was made in either the US 'or' Japan. I know the versions with serrations by the guard (another variant) were made in Japan, but the straight blades could easily be old British stock - and Al might not have been sure either...
Hope that helps"
No mention of a "JAPAN" etching, but it does seem to support the "improvised" look of the etching on the first knife above...
Gaston
