Hey Phil Gibbs, I have a question.

[jerryd6818]

I'm looking for some definitive information on the 1990's black bone handle Camillus 72 with the "ducks on the water" etch on the main blade. Do you know who it was made for?
Ducks Unlimited??
National Wildlife Foundation??
Someone else??

I would greatly appreciate the benefit of your expertise on the subject.

 

[Vit_213]

For 5 years BF and AAPK can not solve this riddle

 

[jerryd6818]

I hear ya Vit. I thought maybe since Phil was a Camillus employee, he might know the answer. You would think after 5 years, I would just give up.

 

[Phil Gibbs]

Hi Jerry. Sorry for the late reply!

It could be either of those, as Camillus did extensive business with both.
Knife would almost certainly have included a presentation box. I assume it is missing from the knife in question?
Do you have a pic of the knife?

 

[Vit_213]

Hi Phil!
A pair of links:
https://www.allaboutpocketknives.co....php?f=63&t=16588&hilit=anniversary&start=810
https://www.allaboutpocketknives.co...63&t=28718&p=528651&hilit=anniversary#p528651

 

[Phil Gibbs]

Makes absolutely no sense to me Vitaly!
The 100 year paper seems irrelevant!
Maybe leftover parts/papers after auction??

 

[Vit_213]

Hey, guys!
It seems I found the answer to this riddle .

These are two fragments of the page from the Sears 1991 Christmas Catalog (https://www.flickr.com/photos/searswishbook/albums/72157689577712924).
The original here - https://live.staticflickr.com/4557/38552700276_e698094785_o.jpg

And immediately another question to Phil (or Rick) - is it possible that it was be made exclusively for Sears?

 

[zzyzzogeton]

That sure looks like the knife jerry described.

 

[Phil Gibbs]

Well done Vitaly!
Yes, could have been done for Sears.

 

[jerryd6818]

I was chastised by Vit because I didn't come back and see his post but as you can see from my date of membership (Dec 28, 2006) and my post count (208) I seldom drop in on BF. All is well now. Once more, thank you very much Vit for tracking this down. Looks like we have everything now.

Vit, since they only made 2000 of them, I would say a Sears exclusive is a slam dunk.

And Phil, thank you for taking a peek at this. The answer is no, I don't have the presentation box.

 

[RickR]

Vit,

Well, the time period is certainly correct. Right around the same time the David Yellowhorse knives were coming out. Although not much at Camillus was an "exclusive". They typically made a replica with minor changes. I know we made the whittler in bone quite a few times.

 

[jerryd6818]

I know we made the whittler in bone quite a few times.

If I may ask, what whittler are you talking about? The 72? Because if that's it, I've only seen three made in bone during the last 40 years of the company.

1.) The one under discussion with the ducks engraved on the main blade,
2.) the Ole' Smoky for SMKW
3.) and just a plain everyday 72 only it had black bone handles. Were there others I haven't run across?

We've discovered there were only 2000 made of #1 in 1991. It would be nice to know how many were made of the other two and in what year. These three seldom pop up for sale and the frequency they show up is in the order I have them listed. It took me several years to find an example of #3 that was for sale.

 

[RickR]

What I meant to say was we made the knife in bone a few times but they were the same knife just separate runs of knives...and, yes, the 72.

 

[Vit_213]