Imperial Commemoratives

[textoothpk]

Found a couple Commemoratives I've been looking for, exactly as I like them: Outer white sleeve, box, paperwork, mint condition. The 1976 issue 'Daniel Boone' and the 1975 'Jim Bowie'. Interesting about these is that they were Imperial Releases. Yep, the knives are both our familiar 8OT, and tang marked 'S.W. Cut' (DB1 and JB1). Neat shields, the 'Boone' showing our all-American hero standing with his rifle; the 'Bowie' shield being a very large, flat black bowie knife. Handle on Boone is maroon sawcut delrin (brass bolsters), Bowie has the familiar OT sawcut delrin (N.S. bolsters). The Boone comes with a commemorative coin.

Boone:::: Nice hinged padded, white satin lined display/presentation box. The paperwork identifies the company as IKCO (Imperial Knife Associated Companies) with both Schrade Cut Corp and Imperial Knife Co. listed below, each with their own address (Ellensville and Providence). 2 Year warranty on the Boone, "return the product to Imperial Knife company (Providence address). Knife is serial numbed on the front bolster. Boone signature blade etch.

Bowie::: Simpler packaging, woodgrain posterboard 2 piece box (plus white sleeve) with red flocked inside. Schrade is not mentioned in the paperwork, just 'Imperial Knife Company', and the 'guarantee' is 'unconditional' concerning defect. No time period mentioned. The serial number is where I like them, inside the knife, on one of the brass liners (and there is a separate piece of paperwork telling the owner this).

Interesting to any of you? The Imperial big deal and not the Schrade? Is to me, but I guess I am a dweeb that needs a life. I have owned each of these knives in the past -- without boxes or paperwork. I feel I have learned something having those extras now. How things changed over the course the of the time Schrade and Imperial (and Ulster, too) were joined up under the banner 'IKCO'

Just a note: Imperial celebrated Daniel Boone once again, with the big tradional folding hunter in the 'Frontier' series of knives (was also companion pieces 'Crockett and Mountain Man'. Any other Schrade or Imperial Boones and Bowies???

Phil

 

[Codger_64]

I thought we agreed to keep the obscure Imperial IKCO knives a secret, assuring ourselves a few more years of unfettered buying at bargain basement prices. It is indeed interesting how some higher quality knives were made on the same patterns and machinery as the Schrade-Walden knives, often in Ellenville by the same cutlers. Deciding to bring the Imperial name up a notch or two from it's historic role as the bottom-line IKCO knives, and eventually phase out that trademarked name as a U.S. made line of items, begining to produce Imperial marked knives in Listowel, Ireland with economy in mind once again, all of this brings us to a very unique tale of the evolution of the knives and brands which we collectively think of as Schrade. And let's not forget the Ulster marked knives as well. Some of them were very well done with jigged bone. I have even seen Ulsters made and marked for Sears.

I really like those two knives, Phil. They, and the "Frontier" series seem to me to have been a high point in Imperial knives. My Double Eagle 435 is one of my most prized knives.

By now, we have all seen the Kit Carson knives, and there were some Schrade boones, I think. Boone was rather an inigma in real life, his trajic story reads like a fiction, even when the unproven conjecture and made by Disney movies are left out. In the end, two places claimed to be his final resting place, his bones worth more than his person during his lifetime as he repeatedly had his land grants pulled from under him, reduced to living with his sons in his old age, when his lifelong dedication to exploration and duty left him in poverty, not wealth. And yet the story is so full of genuine heroism, humility, and so purely American, I can surely see why the Baers chose to honor him time and again.



Codger

 

[knifeman123]

hey guys... i have the buffalo bill one... can u still find those... if so how would i go about it .. thanks!

 

[textoothpk]

I think eBay would be about the only place to find one of those anymore. Perhaps you might run across one at a knife show, but it would be pure luck.

Value of yours? Depends on who wants it. If it is a S-W tang marked Schrade stockman, in the original box, all mint condition, perhaps $40. At least that is as high as I'd go and I have an interest in these.

Phil

 

[redshanks]

Phil, in your first post, you mentioned the companion folding hunter. I've seen the plain 2 blade knife, was this made for Imperial by Camillus? Can you tell me the value for a new one? The blade style is a little different from most other folding hunters and is intriguing.

 

[textoothpk]

Sorry so late on answering this, I got behind I guess and missed it.

Is this the knife you wondered about? Kinda an unusual secondary blade for a folding hunter, a great looking skinner. Yep, Imperial Frontier, made by Camillus. Here's a catalog scan, can't get to my knives right now.