Show me your Queen Cutlery Co Classics!

R

Rhinofly

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2007
Messages
508
Some time around 2003-2006 Queen produced a series of SFO's called Queen Cutlery Co. Classics. This period was toward the end of Bill Howard's tenure at Queen, but before he left to found GEC with Ken Daniels. These knives were at the time produced for and distributed by Ken. All of the knives have a similar etch on the main blade with a shield reading "Queen Cutlery Co" and having "wings" that read, Classic Stag, Classic Redstag, Classic Bone, Classic Casein, or Classic Celluloid. As you might imagine, these knives all have covers made from one of these five materials. Most were produced in very limited quantities and the three examples that I have all have beautiful fit and finish. I really like this series of SFO's myself and seldom see them mentioned, so I thought I would make a thread for others to show pictures of theirs. I am really curious how many are out there. Note that these are easily confused with (but are not the same as) other similarly named series produced at a later date for Frank's Classic Knives (with Frank's head on them) or the Queen City Cutlery Co (note the "city" in the name) series. I am focusing here on that first series produced while Bill Howard still had a hand in things at Queen. Here are the pictures of the three I have: a #3L lockback Mountain Man in stag (30 made), a #20 Toothpick in Redstag (25 made), and a #32 Congress in jigged Honey Bone (30 made). These are of course representatives of the Classic Stag, Classic Redstag, and Classic Bone catagories. Sadly, I do not possess any from the Classic Casein (which came in ivory, tortoise shell and abalone) or classic Celluloid (various colors).

If you have any examples from this first series of Queen Classics, please post em! If you think I got any of the history here wrong, please speak up; it's hard to find information on these, and I am still missing production numbers on a number of different knives from the series. Thanks!

They came usually (but not always?) in this box. Note the word "City" does not appear in the name.
BNNGnex.jpg

qNx47o4.jpg

IrN4WUn.jpg

l8mqV9B.jpg


Here is a closeup up the etch for the Classic Bone knife.
6B0KNiV.jpg


The classic bone came in different colors and also included Winterbottom as well as jigged.
 
Last edited:
Rhinofly said:
Some time around 2003-2006 Queen produced a series of SFO's called Queen Cutlery Co. Classics. This period was toward the end of Bill Howard's tenure at Queen, but before he left to found GEC with Ken Daniels. These knives were at the time produced for and distributed by DFC. All of the knives have a similar etch on the main blade with a shield reading "Queen Cutlery Co" and having "wings" that read, Classic Stag, Classic Redstag, Classic Bone, Classic Casein, or Classic Celluloid. As you might imagine, these knives all have covers made from one of these five materials. Most were produced in very limited quantities and the three examples that I have all have beautiful fit and finish. I really like this series of SFO's myself and seldom see them mentioned, so I thought I would make a thread for others to show pictures of theirs. I am really curious how many are out there. Note that these are easily confused with (but are not the same as) other similarly named series produced at a later date for Frank's Classic Knives (with Frank's head on them) or the Queen City Cutlery Co (note the "city" in the name) series. I am focusing here on that first series produced while Bill Howard still had a hand in things at Queen. Here are the pictures of the three I have: a #3L lockback Mountain Man in stag (30 made), a #20 Toothpick in Redstag (25 made), and a #32 Congress in jigged Honey Bone (25 made). These are of course representatives of the Classic Stag, Classic Redstag, and Classic Bone catagories. Sadly, I do not possess any from the Classic Casein (which came in ivory, tortoise shell and abalone) or classic Celluloid (various colors).

If you have any examples from this first series of Queen Classics, please post em! If you think I got any of the history here wrong, please speak up; it's hard to find information on these, and I am still missing production numbers on a number of different knives from the series. Thanks!

They came usually (but not always?) in this box. Note the word "City" does not appear in the name.
BNNGnex.jpg

qNx47o4.jpg

IrN4WUn.jpg

l8mqV9B.jpg


Here is a closeup up the etch for the Classic Bone knife.
6B0KNiV.jpg


The classic bone came in different colors and also included Winterbottom as well as jigged.
Click to expand...
All three are gorgeous knives but That Mountain Man 3L, WOW!!! Thanks for posting pics and the story behind them.:thumbsup:
 
sunknife said:
All three are gorgeous knives but That Mountain Man 3L, WOW!!! Thanks for posting pics and the story behind them.:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Thanks. I remember buying that 3L. If I recall correctly, I had to convince Bill Horn (at what was then Cumberland Knife Works) to sell it to me. It was the last one he was keeping for himself and he didn't want to let it go. The 3L was also made in this series in Classic Redstag and Classic Bone (brown jigged).
 
Last edited:
Almost forgot to mention, that Federal shield is shared by most (but not all) of the knives in the series. The shields are pinned. The few that did not have the Federal shield were in the Classic Celluloid series and had a rod shield.
 
Last edited:
These are the one I have: They're carbon crocus polish, there were Teardrop , English Jack and I think a couple of other patterns too?

Some great bone on these, here Red Winterbottom type and Ebony. Boxes are the same as @Rinofly shows in the opening post.

QVJv07T.jpg
 
Rhinofly said:
Some time around 2003-2006 Queen produced a series of SFO's called Queen Cutlery Co. Classics. This period was toward the end of Bill Howard's tenure at Queen, but before he left to found GEC with Ken Daniels. These knives were at the time produced for and distributed by Ken. All of the knives have a similar etch on the main blade with a shield reading "Queen Cutlery Co" and having "wings" that read, Classic Stag, Classic Redstag, Classic Bone, Classic Casein, or Classic Celluloid. As you might imagine, these knives all have covers made from one of these five materials. Most were produced in very limited quantities and the three examples that I have all have beautiful fit and finish. I really like this series of SFO's myself and seldom see them mentioned, so I thought I would make a thread for others to show pictures of theirs. I am really curious how many are out there. Note that these are easily confused with (but are not the same as) other similarly named series produced at a later date for Frank's Classic Knives (with Frank's head on them) or the Queen City Cutlery Co (note the "city" in the name) series. I am focusing here on that first series produced while Bill Howard still had a hand in things at Queen. Here are the pictures of the three I have: a #3L lockback Mountain Man in stag (30 made), a #20 Toothpick in Redstag (25 made), and a #32 Congress in jigged Honey Bone (25 made). These are of course representatives of the Classic Stag, Classic Redstag, and Classic Bone catagories. Sadly, I do not possess any from the Classic Casein (which came in ivory, tortoise shell and abalone) or classic Celluloid (various colors).

If you have any examples from this first series of Queen Classics, please post em! If you think I got any of the history here wrong, please speak up; it's hard to find information on these, and I am still missing production numbers on a number of different knives from the series. Thanks!

They came usually (but not always?) in this box. Note the word "City" does not appear in the name.
BNNGnex.jpg

qNx47o4.jpg

IrN4WUn.jpg

l8mqV9B.jpg


Here is a closeup up the etch for the Classic Bone knife.
6B0KNiV.jpg


The classic bone came in different colors and also included Winterbottom as well as jigged.
Click to expand...
The relationship from this series is what lead to the eventual formation of GEC by Ken and Bill.
 
Edit: My apologies I believe the one I posted wasn’t a classic although it was to me :)
 
Rookie82 said:
The relationship from this series is what lead to the eventual formation of GEC by Ken and Bill.
Click to expand...
Yes, I believe this is true, and that is part of what I find interesting about the series. Here is a quote from an old post by Ryan Daniels years ago on the AAPK forum regarding this series where he states this:

"This was the first line of knives The Daniels Family did right after I finished high school. We did limited runs and try to use killer stag when we could because nobody was doing this at the time. Does that sound familar? Yes this was the stepping stone line of knives that lead to the start of Great Eastern Cutlery. We did several cool patterns with bones, celluliods, ann defently Stag & Red Stag."
 
Last edited:
Will Power said:
R Rhinofly my apologies for misconceiving, sorry about the intrusion.

Thanks, Will
Click to expand...
No worries Will; it is easy to confuse them. This series which is the focus of this thread ended right around the time that GEC started, being produced roughly 2003-2007, while Bill Howard was still at Queen and which (apparently) influenced the formation of GEC.

The second version was the Queen City Cutlery Classics (such as yours), and these began production some time around 2008, after Bill was gone and GEC was fully active. I do not know how this version came to be, but the GPKNIVES website has this, "Queen City Cutlery Classics were released by the Queen Cutlery Company in 2008. The Queen City Cutlery Classics released bear the throwback QCCC logo. The Queen City Cutlery Classic knives will tend to feature higher grade components, such as 1095 high carbon steel and upgraded handle materials." I have not had these knives in hand, but they look nice and well made.

It looks to me as if Queen liked the idea of this series, saw they were good sellers, and wanted to continue the idea after Bill and Ken departed for the GEC effort, but could not (or would not) use the exact same branding. There is an interesting thing I found researching old auctions. It was description for a Queen Classic #99 Cattle Knife in white Casein which was produced late in the initial Classics run (circa 2007). The seller has this to say, "This is the last run of Classic's that I will be putting out, do not know if Queen will continue the Classic's or not. They are not to happy, that I have started a new knife factory." I can only speculate as to the identity of this seller (Ken or Ryan?), but if true, it helps illuminate the community relationships at work here. Evidently, Queen did continue the Classics on their own.

Then, there came the Queen Classics series for Frank Powers which began in 2012, right when the Daniels family acquired Queen. A quote from Frank's Classic Knives website says, "The Queen Classics series was one of the Daniels Family’s first knife lines that eventually led to the start of Great Eastern Cutlery. Exclusive to Frank’s Classic Knives, the Queen Classic series features limited production pocket knives crafted in partnership with the Queen Cutlery Company." His statement here is mixing information about the original series and the followup series produced for him after the Daniels bought Queen.


So, after all that, here are my conclusions:

Queen Cutlery Co Classics, 2003-2007 - SFO made by Queen (with Bill Howard) for Ken Daniels (these knives being the subject of this thread)
Queen City Cutlery Classics, 2008-2011 - made by Queen (without Bill Howard) for Queen
Frank Power's Queen Classics, 2012-??? - SFO made by Queen/DFC for Frank Powers
 
Last edited:
Rhinofly said:
Some time around 2003-2006 Queen produced a series of SFO's called Queen Cutlery Co. Classics. This period was toward the end of Bill Howard's tenure at Queen, but before he left to found GEC with Ken Daniels. These knives were at the time produced for and distributed by Ken. All of the knives have a similar etch on the main blade with a shield reading "Queen Cutlery Co" and having "wings" that read, Classic Stag, Classic Redstag, Classic Bone, Classic Casein, or Classic Celluloid. As you might imagine, these knives all have covers made from one of these five materials. Most were produced in very limited quantities and the three examples that I have all have beautiful fit and finish. I really like this series of SFO's myself and seldom see them mentioned, so I thought I would make a thread for others to show pictures of theirs. I am really curious how many are out there. Note that these are easily confused with (but are not the same as) other similarly named series produced at a later date for Frank's Classic Knives (with Frank's head on them) or the Queen City Cutlery Co (note the "city" in the name) series. I am focusing here on that first series produced while Bill Howard still had a hand in things at Queen. Here are the pictures of the three I have: a #3L lockback Mountain Man in stag (30 made), a #20 Toothpick in Redstag (25 made), and a #32 Congress in jigged Honey Bone (30 made). These are of course representatives of the Classic Stag, Classic Redstag, and Classic Bone catagories. Sadly, I do not possess any from the Classic Casein (which came in ivory, tortoise shell and abalone) or classic Celluloid (various colors).

If you have any examples from this first series of Queen Classics, please post em! If you think I got any of the history here wrong, please speak up; it's hard to find information on these, and I am still missing production numbers on a number of different knives from the series. Thanks!

They came usually (but not always?) in this box. Note the word "City" does not appear in the name.
BNNGnex.jpg

qNx47o4.jpg

IrN4WUn.jpg

l8mqV9B.jpg


Here is a closeup up the etch for the Classic Bone knife.
6B0KNiV.jpg


The classic bone came in different colors and also included Winterbottom as well as jigged.
Click to expand...
These are GREAT ! I love Queen Classics
 
I have the teardrop and English jack in Ebony, sold off the greenbone teardrop a few years ago. They are very nice. Gotta get them out for a photo
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top