"Schrade Whaling knife 12796"

[Larry303]

G'Day,I'm just returning this thread to the top as I believe Bruce's 2 posts were so relevant and an insight into the forces governing the principles of 'knife collecting' and more particularly Schrade from an observer/writer/collector of more than 30 years.It sums up in my opinion so many questions we see raised here re pricing and perceived rarity/scarceness of knives.If one knows production numbers of each series/variety it gives one hell of an advantage when placing your bids on Ebay and seeing your knife appreciate or languish as an Investment.
Could it be a sticky above as the heading on Scrimshaw will see a lot of members miss reading it IMHO. Hoo Roo

 

[thawk]

It is my opinion if in the 70's and 80's Schrade had done more listening to the knife collector market and adapting to what the "market" needed rather than listening to what some suits in New York City that came to a knife show once a year, walked through without listening to to anyone, then went back to New York and did what they "thought" we needed, I believe there would still be a working Schrade factory in Ellenville cranking out knives.

You nailed it Bruce. This has and continues to be the demise of many US companies. Paying too much attention to stock prices, empty suits, and sales managers, and not enough to customer needs and people on the front lines facing and servicing the customer.

 

[Giorgianni]

Hello all, sorry I have been away for awhile. Rprocter, your knife was actually released in 1976. Look carefully and you will notice the eagle is looking to the left. I did not think the 1975 knife was actually released. But if it was, the 1975 release would have the eagle looking to the right. I do not have one of the production knives with the eagle looking to the right only an original. So look in your collections and find one with the eagle looking to the right and post some pics. If you have this knife with the eagle looking to the right, then I must apologize for one of my previous historical accounts on the thread Schrade artist: F. Giorgianni as I thought that the 1975 knife was not released. If no one posts a picture of the 1975 knife, I will dig out mine, put it along side a 1976, and post a pic for you.
Tom

 

[rprocter]

Tom, what an honor to hear from the person who probably knows more about these scrimshaws than anyone else in the world. and as with most collectors, i love the finer details which allow one to differentiate a knife.
now when you say eagle looking left, do you mean the eagle's left ? thank you, roland

 

[Giorgianni]

Here is a picture of the 1976 production knife on the top with the botteom knife being an original scrimshaw similar to what would have been the 1975 release. This knife is different than what would have been in production. When creating a scrimshaw knife by hand, much more detail can be added to the knife. The lines are also much finer. Once the line art for the production knife is drawn up, some of the detail might be removed to improve quality. For example, you might notice that there are more leaves on the lower knife. Also you might notice that the 1975 is a mirror image of the 1976. So if anyone has a production knife with the eagle looking to its right please post a picture.
Tom