Do any of you guys collect Bear and Son/MGC knives?

Here are a few that I recently picked up. I have several others that are limited edition stags. I personally like the knives and find them to be of good quality. Not sure of there collectable status now or projected into the future? They are made in Jacksonville AL. My horrible photog skills do not do them proper justice!

_________________
I dig half stops!!

Brian

Those are very nice stag, beautiful knives.
I have three. two are pearl Doctors knives one Damascus, and one light weight lock back. Like the Schrade sp2.
They hold their value well. Mine are well built, good snap, very sharp, beautiful pearl full of color. I like them.

Great looking knives, I have a few B&S and like them a bunch.

_________________
Gino
AAPK MODERATOR

Life is to short to carry a cheap knife! ;)

"So far,so good...so what!!"
-JPS-
Johnnierotten

They look very nice indeed. The only one I have is a stockman in Zebra Wood with lovely hollow ground blades. The all-round quality is very good, but for me the scales lack the vibrancy of stag.

David

I have a Bear MGC like this one except mine isn't Damascus. It is pearl though. (not my picture)



And then I have this Stag B&S Muskrat Jack Rabbit w/Kentucky shield.

_________________
Forged on the anvil of discipline.
The Few. The Proud.
Jerry D.

This country has become more about sub-groups than about it's unity as a nation.

"The #72 pattern has got to be pretty close to the perfect knife."
--T.J. Murphy 2012

I probably own a dozen Bear MGC / Bear & Son knives. Love the fit and finish, well built, good craftsmanship. Most of mine are in wood grains and metal scales. The stag just doesn't do it for me, it all seems to look the same, no real variance. Maybe because it's jigged bone made to look like stag ?

Great customer service too

_________________
A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.
Bruce Lee

I agree on the MGC stag. However, the & Son with the sheild in stag are much nicer with more variance. They call them genuine stag/genuine India stag? The little trapper GS54 1/2 are my personal favorites. They have nice thick slabs.

_________________
I dig half stops!!

Brian

I posted this one a while back in a seperate thread, but I think it fits in here as well. Nice fit & finish, strong snap, double tang stamp, great lookin' knife. The handles are what I think they call bonestag, bone made to resemble stag....I also have a small Bear & Sons lockback in a greenish reddish rosewood. That little knife is really well made too, solid lock up and really smooth finish. I only have the two, but like them both very much.

_________________
There are those that are...and those that wish they were. He himself decides.

Here's one more. Red Stag Horn five blade trapper. Limited edition. Total of 25 made. This is #20. It's time for me to get a shadow box?

_________________
I dig half stops!!

Brian

Cutty, when I read your post I thought I had a handful of Bear knives but after a little search I have only found 2. The others were Parker-Edwards with Jacksonville, Alabama on the tang. I have a stag handled lockback that has an unusually thick set of scales (makes the knife 3/4" wide in the middle) but opened up it is quite comfortable to handle. The other Bear is a gut hook skinner that is well made and complete with a quality leather scabbard. Both knives have BEAR MGC on the tang, so they are probably early models.
Treefarmer

The company started in 1991 as MGC when three guys (McIntosh, Griffey and Cook) bought the old Parker Edwards facility in J'ville. It was a sister company to W.R Case and Sons? In 1999 the co. was bought by Swiss Army Brands, but still run by Griffey, later (in 2004) to be bought back by Griffey and his son, sans the new & Son stamp.

To my best understanding: They used only "Bear MGC USA" until 1999 when they added "Bear & Son USA" along with the MGC stamp. In 2004 they started using "Bear & Son J'ville, Al. USA", and they also still use "Bear MGC USA". The difference (per someone at Bear) is the J'ville stamp and the sheild is used on their higher end collectors models. They used a dot system on all of their knives until 2010 when they changed to stars. Not an expert on the MGC date stamps though. However. The date code I have goes back to 1999 which is refered to as the previous decade and the 1999 knives started with 10 dots= 1999-2009. Pre 1999 I am not sure of the difference in the stamp or font??

Just a little history for anyone who cares?

By the way I really like the slabs on that lock back

_________________
I dig half stops!!

Brian