Help On Small Imperial

[DPris]

I have a small ersatz-pearl-scaled two-bladed knife here that I inherited from my father-in-law. It's got a worn crown on the outside, and the main blade
is stamped Imperial over what looks like Ireland. Overall length is 2 3/4 inches, main blade is two inches, secondary blade is 1.5 inches.
Can anybody tell me approximately how old it is? Am I reading that Ireland right??
Denis

 

[textoothpk]

Yep, it's an Imperial and yes, it was made in Imperial-Schrade's Ireland factory. I don't know when Imperial started there in Ireland, but the factory was closed down a bit before Schrade went out of business.

One of the other members will fill us in on the dates.

Thanks for stopping by with your question!

Phil

 

[Codger_64]

According to my research notes:
March 18, 2004:Imperial Stag/Imperial Schrade Europe, a subsidiary of US-based Imperial Schrade Corp. laid off the last 13 workers of the 70, and closed the Listowel, County Kerry Ireland factory after 43 years.
2004-43= 1961, so your knife was produced sometime between 1960-2004, most likely in the 1960's or early '70's. I am not very up to date on their pattern production like Phil is, so this is just deductive reasoning on my part based upon the materials used.

I hope this has helped.

Codger

 

[DPris]

Thanks very much for the help on both responses.
My wife recalls her Dad having it for many years, it's in pretty good shape & he apparently kept it quite sharp.
It's a valued little heirloom.
Denis