Did Camillus Package the S702 U.S. Coast Guard knife with a Lanyard??

[Shepherd Jim]

I've know seen this same drawing from a book on three occasions. The caption implies (states) that the #425 pattern (later on model #S702) knife WITH a lanyard.

The drawing seems to show the loop of line (rope, "small stuff") attached to the knife's bail as being closed with maybe a piece of leather held with two stitches. And then I see a picture of a very similar lanyard where the loop is held by a metal "clamp" that's been crimped on.

I'm wondering anyone has this knife in their collection with an attached lanyard and/or has personal knowledge, or further documentation, that addresses whether this knife might have been sold with a lanyard.

In my experience, admittedly limited, cutlery companies, even when selling a "sailor's knife" with a sheath -- to which the knife was intended to be attached -- did not include any rope or line accomplishing the attachment. The eventual user supplied the rope and did the attaching.

 

[Shepherd Jim]

Well, I think I'm answering my own question.

I've since purchased a special Cami S702 -- one commemorating Pearl Harbor and the one USCG vessel still registered and afloat at the time the knife was issued ...

...and this knife came with a cotton lanyard that looks exactly like the lanyard pictured in both the earlier auction listing AND that (what I take to be a) catalog drawing.

 

[CAMCO]

The model #S702 Coast Guard knife came with a rope lanyard. The knife and lanyard were packed in a plastic bag.

Tom Williams
(I worked for Camillus for 30 years)

 

[Shepherd Jim]

The model #S702 Coast Guard knife came with a rope lanyard. The knife and lanyard were packed in a plastic bag.
...<snip>...

Happy Boxing Day, Tom! I did know that you'd been at Camillus when they closed their doors AND that you'd made efforts to gather and protect some of the company records at that time. 30 years! I had not realized that you'd been there that long!

In a previous post you had implied that Camillus had made the Pattern #425 knife other than as the S702. The similar knife that I recent;y acquired has an etching on the master blade commemorating Pearl Harbor and the CG Cutter Taney which apparently was the only CG vessel still afloat after the attack.

The stamp on the blade reads:
CAMILLUS
CUTLERY CO
CAMILLUS, N.Y.
U.S.A.

and the reverse reads:
APPROVED
USCG
1944

I was sort of surprized that people might have already been saying "Remember Pear Harbor" only several years after the event. Was this the #425 "pre" the S702 designation?

 

[CAMCO]

The #425 pattern knife was also made during WWII with 1 blade (the can opener was not added until 1949).
The model #S702 knife that you have commemorating Pearl Harbor was made within the last 10 years that Camillus was open. The blade stamping:
APPROVED
USCG
1944
was copied from the original WWII knife. I recall showing one of the engineers the original WWII records so that he could duplicate the original tang stamp.

Tom Williams

 

[Shepherd Jim]

Tom, THANK YOU! -- once again you've saved me what would have been more than likely fruitless hours on "the Google"!!

I immediately liked the look of the S702 on first sight. And I have to say "she" gets more interesting the more I learn.

While we're on a roll ;-) How many variations of the jigged black, plastic handled S720 might we expect to see out there.

This tortoise shell (?? celluloid ??) was just listed on eBay over the weekend. FYI: the reverse tang was stamped S702

There was some pretty good scratching on the blade's reverse side and I sat on my hands and let the knife go to "another".