Schrade 152OT Sharpfinger

A pair of early Sharpfingers found this week. First, the earliest circa 1973 slip top box. It is missing a few components which need to be replaced to complete. The polybagged gray square stone and the sheath polybag as well as the vinyl blade sleeve. It did include the correct insert paper. The surprise is that the tang stamp is not a stamp but rather an etch!



 
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The second Sharpfinger came in the first fold down woodgrained box. Earliest sheath style but likewise missing components. This is a heavier chipboard box than the later ones though same size and design. It is missing the insert paper, sheath polybag and vinyl blade sleeve. Unlikely this circa 1974-75 box would have included the stone which was only ever mentioned in the 1973 distributor catalog.






 
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As we have seen by the emergence of many surviving examples, Ducks Unlimited was a prolific special order customer for Sharpfingers with custom features. Both the Canadian and U.S. national organizations and individual state chapters.

Here is a new one I recently spotted, Ducks Unlimited New York. It is a 152UH with the standard UH shield and special text blade etch.


I don't yet know the year or quantity ordered. However I suspect that it came in a SGS-9 Gift Set as per the very similar 1996 SGS-9DU for the Springfield, Ohio local chapter.

 
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Thanks Codger, I didn't know that actually. What year was this knife made? It's serial # 1042, also.
 
Outdoor sports and conservation organizations and their events were an important market for the 152 Sharpfinger and kin, 154 Drop Point Hunter and 158 Guthook, as well as their Scrimshaw and Uncle Henry variants. Ducks Unlimited was quite prolific but other smaller organizations can be found such as Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Quail Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation and this latest find, Bassmasters Classic, an annual competetion event. This 518SC "Bassmasters Classic Team" is from the 1994 event held at High Rock Lake, Greensboro, NC and the winner, Bryan Kerchal, took home a grand prize of $50,000 cash.


 
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A new find. No definitive info on this one yet. A seldom seen combination of Sambar Stag handle material, stainless blade material, plain grind and non-standard stamp. It came in the plain white box with shipping sleeve and pattern number stamped on the box end flap, "152GS".


 
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I did find a post where Bawana and Eric briefly discussed this issue. But no confirmation of the story that came with that example.

Schrade Indian Stag 152

Does anyone know anything about this knife apparently there was only 6 of them custom made back in 1976 with Genuine Indian Stag Handles. Chris
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
 
Here is a common production Sharpfinger in uncommonly original condition. New in original fold down woodgrain box with a SAS-17 drop-in sheath and all papers. This allows this example to be broadly dated to the 1983 - 1988 time period.

 
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Another recent find. A pristine unused Sharpfinger and sheath but with no associated packaging. The blade profile, grind and tangstamp match an earlier production. There are some interesting details, however.

The included thong is the black nylon shoestring type which was only used briefly. I am yet to pin down the exact dates but I do find it included with correctly packaged Scrimshaws 1979 - 1983.

Next is the sheath itself. The choil retainer strap with rounded end says this is the revised first sheath pre-1983. However it uses a rarely seen small snap with a finial post male portion rather than the more common annular ring larger snap. I've not been able to pin down production dates on this snap. But I do find it used on the black sheaths accompanying boxed SC502 for 1980 and 1981.
 

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The U.S. Olympic Shooting Team knife was limited to a quantity of 1,000, an additional 250 which were 24K gold filled and supplied in a walnut presentation case.

These special presentation knives were offered complementary to certain dignitaries in the shooting industry, with the balance offered for sale only on the site of the shooting competition in L.A. at a price of $149.95. The knives in the cardboard gift boxes with standard etch were priced $69.95 plus $2.50 shipping and handling

 
My latest find, another Sharpfinger still new in the box from the 1990's. They are still out there at reasonable prices.

 
Roughly dating this knife is fairly straightforward using the printed slogans and address on the packaging. The address of "Route 209 N., Ellenville" first appeared in catalogs and ads in 1986 – 1993. The "Built To Last A Lifetime" slogan was first seen in the 1990 flyer SC90-002 and in catalogs 1991 - 1995. So no older than 1991 and no newer than 1993. This also confirms the sans-serif tangstamp was in use at this time.

 
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