Imperial question

We all realize that Imperial knives have been treated like the proverbial "red-headed step-child" by collectors for the most part, probably because many of them were lower price point knives. Does someone have John Goins' tangstamp book to check? My trademark files don't tell me anything on that particular stamp, the Imperial Script. That particular knife pattern does not appear in my 1974 Belknap catalog, the only resource I have so far on U.S. made Imperials. Dating the pattern in this case would date the tang stamp. Perhaps LT has something on this.


Codger
 
this is my only imperial, hey, it's imperial related, so it's not totally off topic ;).
I carry it during fishing season (which is not far off) to gut fish,. degorge hooks, and scale them when I decide I want'em baked. works like a charm, and takes an edge like a straight razor. and for the $5 I paid for it you can't go wrong :).



by the way, the black spots from rust were on there when I got it, I never let my knives get rusty. :) I wouldn't mind picking up another or three, you know, for back-ups ;)
 
Codger_64 said:
Does someone have John Goins' tangstamp book to check? My trademark files don't tell me anything on that particular stamp, the Imperial Script. That particular knife pattern does not appear in my 1974 Belknap catalog, the only resource I have so far on U.S. made Imperials. Dating the pattern in this case would date the tang stamp. Perhaps LT has something on this.


Codger
Click to expand...

My 2nd edition Goins has about 1 and 1/2 pages on Imperial but a scripted tang stamp isn't shown.
Ron
 
Most unfortunately, John passed away in 2003, or we could ask him. Phil, don't you have a script marked Imperial? All mine are block text.
 
I don't pretend to know anything about Imperials, but I would question whether this knife was made by the Imperial Cutlery Co., as opposed to an "Imperial" model knife by some other maker. If it was made by Imperial, wouldn't it also have the crown and place of manufacture, such as Providence, R.I.? What kind of markings did the Irish Imperials have?
 
I just saw this posting and I have both Goins books it is not in either. I would agree with the thought that this was simply a euro or asian or similar import simply marked Imperial except the knifes blade is reminesent of american imperials. Still it would be usual for them not to add more to the tang marking. Off hand I would guess an import. LT PS if it indeed were that old, usually it would have been marked IKCO. I am to beat tonight to check further. Time for beddypoo spring painting and cleaning ,mike your mom is correct old age is not for sissys. Say goodnite.
 
Imperial Knife Company is established in Providence, R.I. by Michael and Felix Mirando in 1917. The Mirando brothers were joined at Imperial Knife Company by a childhood friend from Italy, Dominic Fazzano in 1919. Imperial acquired the Hammer brand trademark formerly used by the closed New York Knife Company in 1936. By 1940, Imperial Knife Company was the world’s largest cutlery manufacturer, producing up to 100,000 knives a day. A lot of different tangstamps were used by Imperial over the years, and the crown was not always a part of the stamp. Neither was Prov.R.I.U.S.A. At one time they used triple crowns in a circle, at least three different Hammerbrand marks, a single crown in a circle was used for some Irish Imperials, I think. I have an Imperial from the late sixties with a crown for the dot above "i" in Imperial, and one that simply says Imperial Stainless.

Codger
 
Only one I have - like Codger's.

barltr


I think it's what Mr.Levine refers to as a "shell knife". Very cheap construction.

ron
 
I do like that fancy tang stamp.

BRL has given an answer, and I think he is correct. Read the knife, the man always says... and he mentions the shape of the blade. Haven't we all seen this before, like on the Geo. Schrade Bridgeport 'sportsman' knives? And on other sporting/fishing knives from the same era?

Phil
 
BRL thinks it is an original from the '20s-'30s and that the handle is cell. But he says he does not recognize the stamp and that he is just guessing. The bladesteel does not look like seventy to eighty year old carbon to me, it looks stainless, with a plastic handle. But like Bernard,,, only a guess on my part. I don't guess I'd recognize black cell if it bit me. It is, afterall, plastic too.


bernard_levine said:
Hmm... I don't recall seeing that mark before... or at least not in a long time.

This style of fish cleaning knife was popular with sportsmen in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Imperial was founded in 1917, so this knife cannot be older than that. That funky black celluloid looks like the same material Imperial used on its WWI sailor jack knife. I'd guess this knife is most likely from the 1920s, possibly the 1930s. Probably no later.

BRL...
Click to expand...

Codger
 
On page 59,in Mr.Levine's 5th,under "pocketknife brandlist", he some knives with an Imperial brand stamp as being made in "Mexico - recently".
 
This tangstamp is still bugging me. I have a feeling that LT is correct, it is a Japanese produced stamp, not one from Imperial of Providence, Rhode Island. I found another example, also in stainless, but of a pattern I have never seen from the U.S. Imperial factories.



Codger
 
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