Old Collection of Gerber Silver Knights

[vjb.knife]

I built this collection of Gerber Silver Knights up in the 90's, but most of it is gone now; I think I still have 4 or 5 of them. I think the Silver Knights were the first high quality knives contracted by an American company to be made in Japan.

 

[eisman]

I always liked those. Had one with a green checked handle that I carried a lot. Very useful design.

 

[OPSEC-C-C]

vjb.knife, fantastic display and collection. You did a great job with the wooden counter top display case. I added from the 86-90 Escort Series and the Halleys Comet 250 sized Silver Knight.
eisman, I too like the Green Checkered 300 sized Silver Knight. It has that nice Sword in Stone medallion insert in the scales. Love older Gerber knives.

 

[vjb.knife]

Yeah, it seems like every time I thought I had all of the Silver Knights out there; I would find another model. I still have the Halley's Comet model like yours, BNIB and a couple of others. They were fun to collect because they were nice knives and they never got too expensive. I also collected LST's which I still have a few pretty rare ones and surprisingly some of those sold for higher than the SK's. The third one down in the first picture with the wood handles is supposedly one of a kind made for the owner of a large retail store selling Gerbers. I don't know if that is true, but I have not seen another one like it. The Cocobolo is layered over Micarta on that one.



These G-10 handles models were only made for the shot show I think, but I have not seen too many of them floating around.



At one point I bought about 20 Micro LST's from a retail store, long after they had been discontinued. The owner tried to talk me out of buying them at reail price because he said they were not collectible and would never be worth that much. He tried to sell me some commemorative Boker crap instead, so that I would have a knife worth something. I sold a half dozen of the Gerber Micro LST's in rare colors for $400+ each the next week. It surprised the hell out of me but I like those little Micros, and I never buy anything that I don't like.



I really like the Airframes but they never really made much money although they are pretty rare and very well made. The original's (bottom large model) had cast titanium handles which had not been done before. But the really rare ones are the two small Air Ti models in the picture; I like them a lot.

 

[knarfeng]

I have two, a beater I bought from an outfit that was selling TSA-confiscated items, and a nice one which I bought from a collector. I bought the nice one because I enjoyed carrying the beater so much. I got very enthused with the pattern a few years ago and did some homework.

The Silver Knight knives were designed by Al Mar when he worked for Gerber. They were manufactured by G Sakai in Seki, Japan. The Sakai family took the project as a challenge to see just how good a knife they could produce. The blade steel was Hitach Gingami #1 blade steel. (This was later used by Spyderco and called "G2") The steel was hardened to a 58-60 Rockwell C. The machiing tolerances they held on these knives is simply stellar.

	Carbon	Chromium	Manganese	Moly	Phosphorus	Silicon	Sulfur[/FONT]
GIN-1	0.90%	15.50%	0.60%	0.30%	0.02%	0.37%	[0.03%

Several handle materials were used in the various batches. Mine both have stabilized wood, which was made in the US by Gerber.

Here's my nice one.

 

[Crag the Brewer]

I bought a mother pearl on one side, aboline ?
On the other scale. I was around 8-10 years old
Nice knife.
I think it cost around $37.00? It was in the early/mid 80's

I later, gave it to a middle school girlfriend..... :/

I think I need to find another

 

[vjb.knife]

I bought a mother pearl on one side, aboline ?
On the other scale. I was around 8-10 years old
Nice knife.
I think it cost around $37.00? It was in the early/mid 80's

I later, gave it to a middle school girlfriend..... :/

I think I need to find another

In the picture of the display case that I posted there is a MOP model on the left side, 3 up from the bottom and an Abalone or Black Pearl handle model on the right side, five up from the bottom. I never saw one that was a mix of the two types of shells.

 

[Crag the Brewer]

In the picture of the display case that I posted there is a MOP model on the left side, 3 up from the bottom and an Abalone or Black Pearl handle model on the right side, five up from the bottom. I never saw one that was a mix of the two types of shells.

Even though I was young, I know it was. Ha
That knife was how I learned of those creatures...

Maybe it was an oddball or a reject? Idk....but I can still remember what they looked like....
Part of me feels like I could identify it if I ever saw it again.

 

[Triton]

I bought a mother pearl on one side, aboline ?
On the other scale. I was around 8-10 years old
Nice knife.
I think it cost around $37.00? It was in the early/mid 80's

I later, gave it to a middle school girlfriend..... :/

I think I need to find another

I think you would go to prison if you found another middle school girlfriend at this point... No wait...

 

[jfk1110]

Great bunch of Gerber classics!!!!

 

[jjg6319]

I have an LST that was the first knife I really used and still enjoy today.

 

[Wolverine666]

I built this collection of Gerber Silver Knights up in the 90's, but most of it is gone now; I think I still have 4 or 5 of them. I think the Silver Knights were the first high quality knives contracted by an American company to be made in Japan.

View attachment 2755471

That’s a sweet collection

 

[OPSEC-C-C]

The Silver Knight knives were introduced in 1978 or 1979. The 200, 250A & 250B models with Wood or Mother of Pearl scales are in the 1979 Gerber catalog. I do not have a 1978 catalog (if someone does, please let me know) but they are not in the 1977 catalog. The 250A & 300A Checkered green handle knives were introduced in 1981. I believe I once saw a dark blue checkered version, but it was only once a long time ago.

The Gerber countertop display cases are something I use regularly to display some of my knives. At a local knife club meeting a few years ago, I used a Green & Camo theme. I forgot to add my green checkered Silver Knight.

 

[BITEME]

I have two, a beater I bought from an outfit that was selling TSA-confiscated items, and a nice one which I bought from a collector. I bought the nice one because I enjoyed carrying the beater so much. I got very enthused with the pattern a few years ago and did some homework.

The Silver Knight knives were designed by Al Mar when he worked for Gerber. They were manufactured by G Sakai in Seki, Japan. The Sakai family took the project as a challenge to see just how good a knife they could produce. The blade steel was Hitach Gingami #1 blade steel. (This was later used by Spyderco and called "G2") The steel was hardened to a 58-60 Rockwell C. The machiing tolerances they held on these knives is simply stellar.

	Carbon	Chromium	Manganese	Moly	Phosphorus	Silicon	Sulfur[/FONT]
GIN-1	0.90%	15.50%	0.60%	0.30%	0.02%	0.37%	[0.03%

Several handle materials were used in the various batches. Mine both have stabilized wood, which was made in the US by Gerber.

Here's my nice one.

Wow KF love your contribution to the thread learned lots about Gerber that I have wondered about,thank you,

 

[Ebbtide]

That tiger stripe sheath…… who knew????!

 

[vjb.knife]

The Silver Knight knives were introduced in 1978 or 1979. The 200, 250A & 250B models with Wood or Mother of Pearl scales are in the 1979 Gerber catalog. I do not have a 1978 catalog (if someone does, please let me know) but they are not in the 1977 catalog. The 250A & 300A Checkered green handle knives were introduced in 1981. I believe I once saw a dark blue checkered version, but it was only once a long time ago.
View attachment 2756152View attachment 2756153
The Gerber countertop display cases are something I use regularly to display some of my knives. At a local knife club meeting a few years ago, I used a Green & Camo theme. I forgot to add my green checkered Silver Knight. View attachment 2756154

Fantastic collection of Gerber stuff! I am thinking I started buying SK's in 1980 when I was single worked at a shipyard in Virginia and had a lot of disposable income and since we worked a lot of hours not a lot of places to go and spend it, so I bought a lot of stuff. Is the Mark II tigerstripe sheath and original Gerber manufacture? I have never seen one like that. I wish I had a knife collector's club to go to; I have never been to one anyplace that I have lived, and that is a lot of places.

 

[OPSEC-C-C]

vjb.knife - Several years ago I hand painted the sheaths for the Vietnam Tribute MKII set. I have a Navy Tribute MKII that has the Seals Trident where the 7th Fleet normally is and the Tiger Stripe Sheath is paired with it. A 7th Fleet MKII is paired with the gray and green sheath. The paint is leather paint that I painstakingly mixed to match the colors of the knife handles.

 

[vjb.knife]

I have an LST that was the first knife I really used and still enjoy today.

I know what you mean. I still have a black and a red handle LST that I used the crap out of for many years in the 80's and 90's , and it is still in fairly good condition. I think for the money they may be one of the best knives ever made.

 

[vjb.knife]

vjb.knife - Several years ago I hand painted the sheaths for the Vietnam Tribute MKII set. I have a Navy Tribute MKII that has the Seals Trident where the 7th Fleet normally is and the Tiger Stripe Sheath is paired with it. A 7th Fleet MKII is paired with the gray and green sheath. The paint is leather paint that I painstakingly mixed to match the colors of the knife handles. View attachment 2756444

Wow, you did a great job to create some very unique items. They are very impressive.

 

[OPSEC-C-C]

Even though we messaged directly Jan 10th, so as to not look rude to everyone else, Thank you.

The third one down in the first picture with the wood handles is supposedly one of a kind made for the owner of a large retail store selling Gerbers.

I know a little bit more about the knife I believe you are talking about. The original knives had the 1st "Top Gun" movie logo etched on the blade, to be given to select people who took part in the making of the movie. The extras's were put together with standard blades. I believe the one you had was one of these. There could be some truth with the extras going to the large retail store, but the original ones were for the movie. If anyone has more information about these, I am always wanting to know more. Even if I am wrong. Gerber had kept the records from before the1987 Fiskars purchase, but then they were all thrown away. Just a shame.