INFO WANTED: Al Mar 4016 F&S 'Vintage'

[wouter1967]

Hi to you all!!

I am asking on behalve of a friend and myself.
He owns this knife for about 20 years or so.
He wants to sell, but can not find any info anywere.
I asked him wat is on the back of the ricasso.
Nothing! No stamp at all. The knife is approximatly made in '89 or '90.
Therefor I expected a 'SEKI JAPAN' stamp on the back of the ricasso, but their is non. There is a '340' stamp on front of the guard.
I've only seen a similar AMK with a different number onces more.
What does this mean? Can anyone help me out here?
I'd like to buy it if its a real AMK.

Who can give me some answers???

Thanks so far.

I hope for some fead-back...

 

[dax0007]

Well, I am no expert, but I have for years tried to solve the AL MAR RIDDLES which are
1) Why is there so many variations of the same knife
2) Why are some marked SEKI-JAPAN(i like this mark), or JAPAN, or USA, or nothing....


FIRST let me say that is a lovely AL MAR and I bet it would fetch around 250-350 .. it just depends if someone knows the true history of the knife.. I saw it had a NUMBER on the gaurd whihc could mean something.. There are AL MAR SHARKS on ebay and they know allot..

Anyhow what I know is the following(Fromt talking to Gary who is the NEW OWNER of AL MAR knives and through years of knife forums

AL Mar made his first set of PRODUCTION knives whihc ar enormally numbers I think 1-200 or 1-300 and these are what collectors usually look for and the most valuable(normally a 100$ PREMINUM).. Anywyas after that he would continue to have the knife produced if itsold well.. All the early knives "I think" we made in SEKI-JAPAN, but them some were made in USA and then again tey were being made in JAPAN(not SEKI).. Allot fo the ones LABELED JAPAN are done sloppy.. I dont know why, but they are.. For example.. I have owned a few AL MAR BOWIES and some one was a COFFIN HANDLE SEKI-JAPAN BOWIE.. AWESOM, then I bought a LOW BELLY Handle BOWIE with JAPAN Marked on it.. It was well made but it did not have the quality like the SEKI and the JAPAN LABLE was sloppy.. There is also some made with NO STAMP.. Remember at some poin t the company in JAPAN who was license to make AL MARS knifes continue to make then and sell them for awhile.. THey are not nbad quality just not what AL MAR wanted.... i dont know much abot yours other than I have never seens on with a BRASS HANDLE and boy I net that would sell nice on ebay... Again i am just telling u my opinion so I hope no one tell s me anything wrong... I have spent allot of time asking questions and the whole AL MAR production history became a mess for a while.. Gary the NEW OWNER of AL MAR knives if super cool and will give u any info he has.. I stll buy AL MAR knives from time to time from his primary whole saler cause I want to support them..

good luck! let meknow when u auction it cause i will bid

 

[wouter1967]

Thanks for your feed back.
Most of it I already know. But never the less thanks for your explanation.
The 1:USA SEKI JAPAN or 2:SEKI-JAPAN or 3:JAPAN point out the decades and producers when and where the models where made.

I found some answer on another forum. But I'm still searching for more answers..

Do you know how I can get in touch with AMK Gary?