Codger-Golden Spike Box Question

winchester73 said:
Codger
Did Most of the carbon steel Golden Spikes come in the heavier wood grain boxes?
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I'm not the Codger, but this auction might help provide some information. The blue-black "sharp-idea" box came chronologically after the wood-grain's. I believe there were also Golden Spikes sold in the one-piece wood grains that fell in age between this example and the two-piece wood-grain boxes. I do not think just because this particular example is a 153UH+ it is definitive. You also have to be careful of people selling knives in a non-original box. I see it happen all the time.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Schrade...ryZ43322QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
The stainless “SCHRADE+” blades were produced during the last nine years of production (1995-2004). The new tang stamp was ordered in May of 1995. The "Sharp Idea" boxes date from circa 1984/85-2001. That changed circa 2001 to the blue stripe box, then to the blue topped beige box with the flag (made in U.S.A. text beneath) and gray end circa 2003. So a Schrade+ knife in that tan box would date to circa 1995-2000. If it is in the original box.

Michael
 
Codger:
It's the carbons steel onw I was wondering about. Did the carbomn steel Spikes come in wood grain boxes?
 
The pattern was introduced in 1973, so yes, you could find one in a woodgrain box, I think. As I said, I have not done a study of the packaging of these knives, but if the packaging followed the same general progression of designs used on most other Uncle Henry knives, the carbon steel ones may be found in any of the packaging used from 1973 through 1995. This precludes the blue striped box and the last design, the flag box. But under the Rule Of All Things Schrade, there was always the posibility that a return, repair or old stock was repackaged by the factory at a later date in a later box. If a carbon steel bladed knife is found in the last two box designs, it is also very possible that a collector or store owner mismatched them when they were repackaged for sale. How long were they shipped in the brown woodgrain boxes? No one here knows for certain. IIRC, at some point the woodgrain covered boxes changed to leatherette covered boxes on the UH line before they went to the "Sharp Idea" box. Do a study of them and see. Look at the corporate name on the boxes and papers. It did change over time. But as with the boxes, papers got shuffled by dealers and collectors. Contemporary ads and catalogs very seldom showed the boxes and papers, just the knives themselves. Perhaps Arnold, who has an affinity for the 171UH, or Larry303 who has an extensive collection can show us their progression of UH boxes and inserts. I deo not have a large enough sampling of the UH fixed blade knives with original boxes to do a reliable timeline survey of the progression of box changes.

Now, after all of that, if you are asking because you are looking at a particular knife to buy and it is in a woodgrain box, and you want to know if it is original to the knife and papers accompanying it, the company name and logos should be correct for a knife of that period. They did not use "Imperial Schrade", or the cutler logo then. Mr. Gardiner was not President of the company then and they had no website. For the approximately first ten years of production of that pattern, the company name was Schrade Cutlery Corp. It changed to that just before (or at the same time as) the introduction of the 153UH. Prior, the company name was Schrade Walden Cutlery. Circa 1984/85 The owner, Alber Baer, purchased the remaining shares of Imperial and the companies merged to be known as Imperial Schrade Corp. Papers and boxes changed from Schrade Cutlery Corp to Schrade Cutlery and the cutler logo began being used.

Michael
 
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