Back in the saddle here, my trusty old scanner by my side!
I want to thank you all for the enthusiasm, and hope you enjoy the rest of my postings from the Oregon show. My good friend Tom is back in Winsted, and Bob and I made it safely back to our respective lairs in B.C. I am putting everything away, and lining up the noteworthy acquisitions for scanning. I have some minty Schrades and Remingtons, and some customs to eventually show you, but this knife for today is the one I like the most!
It will surprise some, but not all of you!
It is an early Jack from Empire, when an ordinary knife could have Ivory handles!! Looking at pictures from the middle 1800s, Empire made quite a few this way, reflecting the Sheffield influence of it's first, immigrant cutlers.
The Ivory is cracked, and a little shrunk, but with nice patina.
It's a nice size at 3 and 11/16" long, and it is slim, at just under 7/16", with nicely rounded handles. There is some pitting, but the blade is pretty full, and displays full length swedges! The tang geometry is the older (?Jim told me this?) clean square joint (I believe) but with the bolsters extended a bit, so maybe a transition period to the more modern approach, if you can call 1860's - 1880's modern.

It still snaps wonderfully, and could easily be used for years, but might lose some of that Ivory, so I will display it proudly in a case, and let certain knifely trained people CE and CF it! Others may ogle!! Ahem.
So here it is, courtesy of Mark Zalesky (and a nominal fee

)!!