Western Bowie W49CG Question

RomaKid

RomaKid

Joined
Feb 4, 2016
Messages
288
Hello,

I've been trying, without success, to find information on this version of the Western Bowie. I was looking on eBay to see if I could find it and approximate its value but no luck. Any help is appreciated.

Raul
 
Last edited:
Nice peened guard, SFO maybe. Where is it stamped CG? FYI when asking for knife info clear pictures of all the stamps/markings on the knife make identification easier.
 
Last edited:
It's a Camillus made knife. It was made before Camillus changed the location of the cutlery rivets on the handle. That's all I've got.
 
The knife has the usual Western USA W49 on the ricasso area. The box has the model designation. I had it mixed up before. I attached a picture.

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Camillus used to publish a separate catalog for the Western brand knives. The earliest combined catalog I've seen is 1996. The only Western catalog printed by Camillus that I've seen is for 1993. With this stock number it might be located on a price sheet.
Hopefully someone from the factory may remember.
 
This is one of the few Western knives made by Camillus that had a "WC" as the leading 2 characters Camillus model number rather than a "WW". I speculate that the trailing "G" in the "paper model number" referred to the oddball, thick, peened guard.

Western's model numbers began with a letter or number designator for the handle material, hence the W (wood) in W49 and "6" (Delrin stag) for the 649. When Camillus acquired the rights to Western, they added a leading "W" to the model number on paper (not on the knives) meaning that a particular knife was a Western model, i.e., WW49, WR19, etc. The "WC" defies this historic logic. The only thing I can come up with is that the "WC" means "Western by Camillus", inferring that Camillus designers modified an existing Western model.

I've never seen any advertising on this knife. I have always ASSUMED that these were a short-lived production item from around 1995 or 1996. Probably only 1 run that took a while to sell out so a second run was never made.

Logic driving my assumption -
-- These knives appear to be made of Stainless Steel, probably 440C, which is what Camillus switched the W49 to around 1995. Therefore, they are NOT from 1993 or 1994.
-- Compared to regular Camillus made W49s, they are relatively rare. By rare, I mean that I see 30 or more regular Camillus made W49s for every one of these that rolls through fleabay. This leads me to speculate that they were a limited production item. They do run in spurts on fleabay, though. There might be a 6 to 8 month period where none are for sale and then you get a "run" of 2 or 3 in a month or 3.

As far as value? In the eye of the beholder. These have gone for anything from $85 to $150 on fleabay over the last 3 or 4 years.

I'm ready to eat crow on any of my assumptions if someone can dig up some advertising.:D
 
One sold in the bay. You can check out the price it's high. Peened guard are the key words.

Again nice Bowie.
 
I missed that one - It came and went while I was at the International Knife Throwing Hall of Fame World Championships. Way overpriced, IMO, but someone obviously wanted it. Totally bogus info in the listing about it being late 1980s.
 
I assumed there was some gilding the lily going on. Like you stated earlier though it's rare enough to create its own inflationary market when one does come up for sale.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top