Photos Who here has the oldest Sebenza of each generation?

I

Ilikesharpstuff

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I thought this might be a fun idea for a thread as I've recently been diving into some CRK history. Copying some info from the CRK History Timeline sticky just for visibility:

H Sebenza: 1989
P Sebenza Large: 1991 - 1995
P Sebenza Small: 1993 - 1995
Original Sebenza Large: 1991 - 1996
Original Sebenza Small: 1993 - 1996
Regular Sebenza Large and Small: 1996 - 2008
Classic Sebenza Large and Small: 2000 - 2008
Sebenza 21 Large and Small: 2008 - June 7, 2019
Sebenza 31 Large and Small: Announced June 3, 2019
Sebenza 25: Announced Mid 2012 - Discontinued Mid 2016

So that establishes a baseline. If you have a Sebenza that you believe to be early production of any particular generation, please post pics here! If the original birth card is available including it in the pic/album would be great, if not a shot of the date codes inside your scales will have to suffice. I'll keep this post updated with "records" of our oldest submission for each given generation at the bottom of the post. If you'd like to include any history, anything specific that makes your knife special, or any other info with your pictures I'll add that as well.

The idea for this thread came to me through research that has led me to convince myself I have one of the first few hundred large 21s ever made. The 21 is my favorite combination of affordability, availability, and vintage CRK goodness. I'm not financially ready to collect Ps or Regulars or Classics, so finding some vintage 21s is a great thrill that doesn't hurt the bank account quite so much. I'd love to one day have at least one of each generation, but as of right now the Sebenza 21 is my all around favorite and the older ones (Pre-Idaho stamp) are the best of them that I've experienced.

I'll get us started!

The CRK Mod account announced the Sebenza 21 here on Bladeforums on April 19th, 2008 in this thread. I don't think this was the first announcement of the new model, but I'm sure it wasn't public too long before they shared it to this community. Someone in the comments mentioned getting notice earlier that week. Someone else also mentioned calling in a pre-order on April 19th so while they were available to order at that time, they weren't shipping yet. On October 20, 2009, Anne Reeve shared this post stating that they made approximately 1,200 large Sebenzas in 2008. That includes all variations, so that would be a split between Classic MMs and 21s, inlays and plain janes, etc. All this information combined has led me to tell myself that my large plain jane 21 with B-08 (April, May, June) scales had to be one of the first out the door. My oldest (verifiable by birth card) is a small that was born 08/08/08 and has C-08 scales. Both of these have "C" stamped blades, leftovers from Classic MM production.

Can't wait to see what some of you guys have to share, thanks for playing along!!

@laizhekezhui Posted a beautiful collection with many early Sebenzas in group shots which I will share below. In the spirit of the thread, for now I am going to leave the individual posts from others that include specific birth dates for given models, but prototypes and low numbered knives in this collection are clearly some of the earliest examples.

01-jpeg.1945497

Plain Sebenzas, from left to right:
1. Titanium Folder No.21, the predecessor of Sebenza
2. H Sebenza No.15
3. H Sebenza No.30
4. H Sebenza No.71
5. Large P Sebenza No.5
6. Large Regular Sebenza No.10
7. Large Regular Sebenza Flat Ground
8. Large Classic Sebenza Prototype No.4
9. Large Sebenza 21 "Large Hollow Grind" Prototype No.4

02-jpeg.1945499

1. H Sebenza No.72 Decorated
2. Large P Sebenza No.63 Decorated
3. Large P Sebenza No.69 Decorated
4. Large P Sebenza No.290 Decorated
5. Large P Sebenza Decorated "Moons" AJ Hubbard Damascus
6. Large Regular Sebenza Decorated No.194 AJ Hubbard Damascus
7. Large Regular Sebenza UG Fireball Damascus
8. Large Regular Sebenza UG Blued Sharkstooth Damascus
9. Large Classic Sebenza Prototype No.5 Blued Spirograph Damascus
10. Large Classic Sebenza 21st Anniversary Knife No.10 Gary House Zebra Damascus
11. Large Classic Sebenza 21st Anniversary Knife No.18 Gary House Zebra Damascus
12. Large Classic Sebenza UG "Night Sky"

03-jpeg.1945500

Gold Coin Sebenzas, from left to right:
1. Large Regular Sebenza Gold Coin 2001 Chinese Panda No.11 Raindrop Damascus
2. Large Regular Sebenza Gold Coin 2001 Chinese Panda No.14 Raindrop Damascus
3. Large Regular Sebenza Gold Coin 2003 Isle of Man Cat No.10 Raindrop Damascus
4. Large Regular Sebenza Gold Coin 2003 Isle of Man Cat No.12 Raindrop Damascus

04-jpeg.1945501

Annual Sebenzas, from left to right:
1. Large Regular Sebenza Annual 2000 CA Buckeye Burl Inlay Raindrop Damascus
2. Large Regular Sebenza Annual 2001 CA Buckeye Burl Inlay
3. Small Regular Sebenza Annual 1999 Maple Burl Inlay
4. Small Regular Sebenza Annual 2000 CA Buckeye Burl Inlay





Large P Sebenza- 6/9/1992 Lone_Wolfe Lone_Wolfe
ERtEq7H.png


Small Original Sebenza- 1994-1996 #41 of 200 B brock stewart
img_0653-jpeg.2587287


Large Regular Sebenza- 7/17/1996, #19/19th ever made Lone_Wolfe Lone_Wolfe
https://imgur.com/a/xI0AJQX

Large Classic MM Sebenza- A02/B02 scales, January/February/March 2002 Lone_Wolfe Lone_Wolfe
https://imgur.com/a/JBDz45Z

Large 21- A-08 scales, 6/24/2008 badmatt badmatt
UqmYCcY.jpg


Small 21 - 6/30/2008 Lone_Wolfe Lone_Wolfe
https://imgur.com/a/WaSOrVo


Large 31- 3/4/2020 Lone_Wolfe Lone_Wolfe
ImPZVmD.png
 
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I have a large P from 93/94 (I purchased it from the original owner and have the barely legible receipt, March 18 1994)

DkA7Dd9.jpg


Large reg from 2001 (need to double check the scales for quarter)
YDZ6mMa.jpg


Large Classic from 2004 (need to double check the scales for quarter)
B6ioQkZ.jpg


Early 21 from 2008 (A scales / No Idaho, C marked S30v blade carry over from the classic. Has been rebladed in DT ladder damascus by CRK and have a new S35 reblade as well with it)
uoG0JHP.jpg
 
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badmatt said:
I have a large P from 93/94 (I purchased it from the original owner and have the barely legible receipt, March 18 1994)

DkA7Dd9.jpg


Large reg from 2001 (need to double check the scales for quarter)
YDZ6mMa.jpg


Large Classic from 2004 (need to double check the scales for quarter)
B6ioQkZ.jpg


Early 21 from 2008 (B scales / No Idaho, C marked S30v blade carry over from the classic. Has been rebladed in damascus by CRK and i have a new S35 reblade as well with it)
uoG0JHP.jpg
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Sweet, thanks for the awesome examples! Added to the original post. I'm leaving my 2008 21 since we can't prove which was made first and you have so much other cool stuff to share :cool:


stjones said:
Neat idea.
My Classic 21 has B08 lock side and C08 presentation side with BD of Jan 12/09.
View attachment 2585748

Would love to add an early lefty with the Classic bits to my lefty collection.
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Very nice. The first year or two of 21s were amazing knives. I have one from 2018 that is great, but somehow just isn't the same.
 
Ilikesharpstuff said:
What a collection!! You're currently winning every category that's been submitted except large 21. I'm going to continue claiming that title (possibly falsely) until someone comes along with a birth card for a B08 large 21
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I'm sure I'll give some of them up if other folks start posting theirs. I might hang onto oldest Regular for a while though. Next you should do the opposite, who has the last made of each model.
 
Lone_Wolfe said:
I'm sure I'll give some of them up if other folks start posting theirs. I might hang onto oldest Regular for a while though. Next you should do the opposite, who has the last made of each model.
Click to expand...

A latest of each model thread could drive some serious sales for CRK if people got competitive about it! It would probably be a more active thread though it might end up just being a twin to your anticipation/inbound post. I hope more people show up to participate here but when you posted your Regular it did occur to me that when something so close to the beginning shows up it will pretty much end the posting for that model. You never know though, there are 18 people out there...or at least 18 knives before yours, maybe one of those owners is among us.

Somewhat off-topic but I have been drooling over the large P Sebenza listed on AZCK with the original box, pouch, and birth card but I don't think I'm ready to spend that kind of money on a Sebenza, even if it is an awesome vintage one.
 
Mustacheben said:
This is a great thread idea! I have two 08’ 21’s one is a pj marked B08 but I don’t have the card sadly. The other is this retro that is a September 08’. I can’t play with anything else haha

View attachment 2586912
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Thanks! I thought it would be a fun way to get people to show off some of their "vintage" CRK stuff! Not that I have any way of knowing since the 19th Regular as shown above was a UG, but one would think the first run of knives for a new model would probably be PJ. If that is true it's pretty wild that we have three B-08 plain janes in this thread already. I've always thought the retro graphic was a sweet one!
 
brock stewart said:
View attachment 2587287Small original
Click to expand...

Very nice! Added to the post, thanks for sharing!

badmatt said:
Correction to my above post.

No Idaho, A08 on both slabs. OG blade is in the box. Same knife as above just had its Damascus blade swapped in the earlier picture.

View attachment 2587332
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Fine, you got me lol. It would have been cool if they numbered the first hundred or two of each generation so it wasn't such a mystery! June 08 has got to be super early production for the 21 if they were taking pre-orders in mid April.
 
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