Queen utility with real Winterbottom

[sandmountainslim]

Traded my 1976 red plastic handled utility today for this near identical easy open utility with real Winterbottom bone scales.
A bit more worn than my '76 but I loved the look of the real bone.
Any etching on the blade is worn off and their is no tang stamp whatsoever. Am I correct in assuming early 1960's production?
Thanks for any info.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Queen apparently abandoned tang-stamping their blades for a period; mainly 1960s-vintage were without stamps (maybe post-1958 and into early '60s*). The lack of a stamp on yours might indicate it's manufacture in that period. They did apparently use a blade etch instead, though it's possible that might've been sanded or polished off, on an older well-used knife. Steel is likely 440C (called 'Queen Steel'), as that's what Queen used for a long time, from post-WW2 until perhaps the 1980s or so, maybe into the '90s.

( * = Referring to the 'Official Price Guide to Collector Knives', Fourteenth Edition, by C. Houston Price; 2004 )


David