The Staue of Liberty Collection

[ea42]

Here are a couple of Statue of Liberty knives, made to commemorate its Centennial in 1986, as well as its unveiling after some serious refurbishment. They're very well made knives, with excellent fit and finish.There was an etched issue of 2000, with nickel silver bolsters and special sterling silver shield depicting the Museum of the City New York, and jigged bone handles. It was housed in a walnut frame with a clear plastic front shield. It included a reproduction of a painting by Edward Moran depicting the statue during its initial unveiling in 1876.

There was another knife, built on the same frame but with a 24K gold etch and sterling silver bolsters. It came with jigged bone handles and the sterling shield, milled backspring and liners, and was offered in a felt lined walnut hinged box. There were 500 of these produced.

Here's the gold edition:

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And here's a shot of the regular etched knife in its frame ( should have taken the plastic off to cut the glare):

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Enjoy!

Eric

 

[Codger_64]

Great pictures and great info Eric!

 

[Rusty1]

Nice pictures Eric, Thanks for showing.

Rusty1

 

[Upstream]

That gold edition is very nice, thanks for the 411 on those.. I also got one of the plain etched ones at a good price, but I've never seen the poster untill now.

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

I have been hunting for the "second tier knife" with the sterling bolsters and gold etch for a while. I was able to score one yesterday. Yes!

All the silver is very tarnished but the knife looks to be in good shape otherwise. It comes with the display box and paperwork but no poster with this one. For now I will post the sellers "before" pics and I will add some better "after" scans once it arrives and I get it all cleaned up.

I'm not convinced that the prices Schrade was hoping to get were ever realized but it's most definitely a nice knife for what I paid. $500 in 1986 is like $1000 in today's money which would be a awful lot for this knife imho

I think it's ok but cross your fingers for me that there is no pitting and only 25 years of tarnish!

Before polishing:

 

[thawk]

This series usually has really pretty bone on the handles too. Nice pick up Dave.

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

I never did post the "after" set of pics when I received my knife so here they are. Better late than never lol

The gold edition Statue of Liberty is a very nice knife indeed! Fit and finish is great. Bone handles are very attractive. The blade is mirror-polished to perfection (earlier post shows blade appearance more accurately) and to top it all off...jimping! The liners and spring have a very nice diamond pattern on them. This one screams "quality" (and at it's MSRP of five bills in '86 it better). A finely detailed and well made knife. Great pattern too; I really like the 4" closed size and the classic clip blade.

As you will see my (hand) polishing efforts brought the knife back to mint condition. I tried the two-stage polishing cloth I normally use for sterling silver but it wouldn't touch the thick black tarnished spots so I stepped up to a two-stage cloth where the first stage is jeweler's rouge and it worked like a charm. All the nasty tarnish came off and this knife is now as shiny as it gets. Sterling silver does polish up so much nicer than nickel silver. You can tell the difference from across the room. I'm super happy that it came out as nice as it did. Any scratches you may notice are on my flatbed and not this knife.

Cheers!

 

[Upstream]

Looks nice!! You should try NEVR-DULL sometime if you haven't already, avialable at most hardware stores.
It's amazing how much detail shows up in a scan.

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

Looks nice!! You should try NEVR-DULL sometime if you haven't already, avialable at most hardware stores.
It's amazing how much detail shows up in a scan.

Thanks for the NEVR-DULL tip. I will give it a shot sometime. Scanners are great for detail but they do a poor job on highly reflective surfaces. Mirror-polished? Forget it! It will look completely wrong (very dark) every time. On the other hand I don't have to take photos outside on a cloudy day (best way for highly reflective knives) with a $500.00 DSLR. My scanner was purchased used for $40.00. Best bang-for-your-buck when it comes to knife pics imho