I have A Few Swiss Army Knife questions?

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mg357

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I have a few Swiss Army Knife Questions please help me answer them.

Victorinox Swiss Army Knives were bought by American Soldier's in there PX stores during WWII.

They became popular with civilians after these same soldiers brought them home with them after the war.

Now here are my questions Which Victorinox Swiss Army Knife Models where sold in those PX stores?

are they available today?

what are there Model Names?

Any and All Help answering these questions would be greatly appreciated very much.
 
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Try the SAKWiki website. They have a lot of information, including titles of books about SAK history. The site also lists contacts to SAK collectors groups.
:D Faiaoga (MacGyver's illegitimate cousin)
 
mg357 said:
I have a few Swiss Army Knife Questions please help me answer them.

Victorinox Swiss Army Knives were bought by American Soldier's in there PX stores during WWII.

They became popular with civilians after these same soldiers brought them home with them after the war.

Now here are my questions Which Victorinox Swiss Army Knife Models where sold in those PX stores?

are they available today?

what are there Model Names?

Any and All Help answering these questions would be greatly appreciated very much.
Click to expand...

Taken from "Swiss Army Knives, A Collector's Companion", page 10:

"At the end of (World War II) Victorinox started selling their 'Officer's Knives' through the American military's PX stores, the servicemen recognised their quality and the fame of the 'Swiss Army Knife' began to spread around the world."

SAK_zps0ef25cd4.jpg


The 'Officer's Knives' would be the ones on the right in the picture. The 3rd one down on the right was made 1937. The 4th one down made in 1946 with a new designed can opener. So between those two would be the ones that the GIs would've bought. But I wouldn't doubt that many GIs bought the 'Soldier Knives' which are the ones on the left in the picture. And there are possibly other models that GIs were able to get their hands on.

Today's equivalent to the Officer Knife would be the Spartan and the Soldier would be the Alox Soldier which has been replaced with the 111mm Soldier's knife in 2008.
 
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