Old Imperial Tang Stamps

[Another Knife Collector]

For the sake of reference, here's one not encountered so often.

[brady806]

hi guys,sorry i havent been around lately--------deer hunting season now stock shows! any way heres a small gathering of imperials, some of them have the old IKO stamp. majority of these have IMPERIAL PROV RI . i really like them, some of these old guys snap like a bear trap!
had a small schrade walden counter top display i put these in, oh well same family !!!!---------------------brady
ohyea akc, love that england model, gotta have one now!!!

[orvet]

Brady,
Glad to see you back!
I was beginning to think you went AWOL!

Let's see some pictures of the deer you shot. (You did get one right?)

I hope you can break away from the cows long enough to come in and say "howdy" once in a while.

Welcome back!
Dale

[Paul M]

I'm going to add this Old Bone Handled Jack to this thread. It has the Imperial only tang stamp that would date it from the late 20's. Brass Liners and Pins, Nickel Silver Bolsters and Shield. The Blades are pretty full, pen blade may be near 100%. The Center pin is set back from center quite a bit, still has some snap left.

[268bull]

Paul M., That's a fine looking Imperial Jack! Nice worn pattern to the jigged handles. Bull

[ratlesnake75]

some IKCo stampings, not my knives, but nice pics

[ratlesnake75]

Here is an unusual and quite rare imperial--BIG knife--5 inches closed--Neat fishermans shield--Thx Mark

[orvet]

Nice one Mark!

I was reading back through this thread and realized that while I have posted to this thread several times, I have not posted any pics of Imperials in my collection.

It is time I change that!

Here is a beautiful Imperial ad knife. It is not a shell handle, but has solid celluloid handles.
It even has jimping on the liners. Since these are pics from a spanner, the blades don't look right, but in real life they are highly polished. I think this is likely from the later 1920s.

This is another small Imperial ad knife, c. 1934.
I love it then they date the knife for me!

This is a pretty shell handled Imperial fish knife with built in cap lifter.

This is a solid handle Imperial tuxedo knife.
Again the scanner messed up up the way the blades look.

Here are a couple metal handled IKCO jackknives. These were often used by young boys.
There is another one that had the words 'BOYS KNIFE' in raised letters on the handle. I believe it too was made by Imperial.

Here is one of my favorite patterns, an Imperial easy-open jack with beautiful old bone handles.
The steel in these old things are awesome! Imperial tended to use very good steel in all their knives, even the cheap shell handled knives would cut as well or better than most other knives from the same time period.

Here is another Imperial easy-open jack. This one was made on contract for the U.S. Army.
Note- the USA stamp on the tang of the secondary blade.

This is a very pretty two-tone Imperial shell handle.
I believe these originated in the 1950s.

Well, there are some of my Imperial knives.
Let's see some of yours.

Dale

[RobesonsRme.com]

Take a little Windex and clean your scanner plate and those ugly blades will polish right up.
Charlie Noyes

[ratlesnake75]

Very nice looking imperial's Dale--thx Mark

[m1orear]

I have an Imperial knife that has a tang stamp that isnt identified in this post. It says imperial over stainless over U.S.A.. I believe it is a brass gents knife with dog running through the woods. Any help would be great. lLike what it exactly is and what year it was made.Thanks.

[Joe Dirt]

Imperial
Stainless
USA

I believe was the last stamp Imperial used before going to "Imperial Schrade".

I could be wrong, and I'm sure I will stand corrected if so! (won't be the first time )

Dale could probably give us a date when this transition was made.

Great solid lookin knife by the way

......... Joe

[m1orear]

Thanks for the info joe.

[orvet]

Imperial
Stainless
USA

I believe was the last stamp Imperial used before going to "Imperial Schrade".

I could be wrong, and I'm sure I will stand corrected if so! (won't be the first time )

Dale could probably give us a date when this transition was made.

Great solid lookin knife by the way

......... Joe

Well Joe,
I have not researched Imperial tang stamps enough to really know.
The name change to Imperial Schrade was in 1984, (per LG4).

We do know that after Albert Baer bought out his partners in 1984 he changed the name to Imperial Schrade Corp and soon thereafter the following Imperial Frontier series were dropped: Double Eagle, Sundowner, Powderhorn Stag, Ol’ Ivory & Gunpowder Black. It was believed they competed too directly for the sales of the Old Timer brand.

There is a S-card from Camillus dated December 1984 for the Imperial Light Weight Camouflage knife.
I have a S-card record of an order for Imperial Frontier #4135 knives in 1985, the year after the change.

The Imperial Frontier All-Americans series was introduced in 1985.
The AA-31 was made until 1987.
The AA-41 was made until 1988.
The AA-51 was made until 1989.

So there we have an Imperial brand name being manufactured (by Camillus Cutlery Co., also owned by Albert Baer) in 1989, probably long after the Imperial with the crown that is shown in the previous knife.

The Imperial MS-7 survival knife was made in 1986 & 1987.

It would not surprise me to learn that Imperial Scout knives were made in the 1980s and 1990s. Do any of you Scout collectors know for sure?

The Imperial Tradesman line of tools was made in Ireland until 2004 as were some of the Imperial Jackmaster patterns.

So, it is hard to say exactly what was the last Imperial tang stamp.
This is definitely a subject that merits more study.

[knifegirl888]

Cool Stuff! Here is a couple that I already had scanned up. The "ballpoint pen" knife is pretty neat.

[TripleF]

1936 - 1952 Easy Open Jack

[268bull]

Scott, That's a fine looking Easy Open. To bad the bail is missing. If were me, I'd be searching the bone yds. for a bail to replace it. Regardless, again, a fine looking knife! Bull ( Is that your blog page? If so, congrats' on the writing. Enjoyed it! )

[TripleF]

Scott, That's a fine looking Easy Open. To bad the bail is missing. If were me, I'd be searching the bone yds. for a bail to replace it. Regardless, again, a fine looking knife! Bull ( Is that your blog page? If so, congrats' on the writing. Enjoyed it! )

Thanks Bull! I just listed this knife on eBay.

Yes sir....that's my blog steel brother!!

[Darrell983]

Hey, I have this old imperial fixed blade, I'm trying to figure out its value. But I can't find it and the gang stamp is odd. It looks like #11 but it doesn't have the little crown

[bighomer]

Darrell doubtful that it has a lot of value, I don't know what happened to the little crown but it looks like a #12 to me, vertical usa, mine has the stamp on the opposite side to yours , but theres a lot of oddities on old knives.

[ratlesnake75]

Hey Guys, Here is my Early Imperial IKCo stamped Harness Jack. Goins dates the knife 1928-30 right?? Its got that Triangle IKCo stamping
Thx Mark

[tjmurphy]

I didn't win this one but I sure wish that I had. First I've ever seen

[Papa Bones]

O.K. I'm gonna bump this thread with a new question. Mainly because I've looked through several threads and can't find the answer. On the dating of Imperial tangs tamps.

The "IKCO" tang stamp, I have seen four different variations, possibly five. 1st. IKCO inside a diamond, 2nd. IKCO inside a rectangle, 3rd. IKCO slanted in a slanted rectangle, 4th. IKCO over USA, and possible 5th IKCO with no USA, but was worn. Is there any date information for the years this series of tang stamps were used?

[Papa Bones]

O.K. I'm gonna bump this thread with a new question. Mainly because I've looked through several threads and can't find the answer. On the dating of Imperial tangs tamps.

The "IKCO" tang stamp, I have seen four different variations, possibly five. 1st. IKCO inside a diamond, 2nd. IKCO inside a rectangle, 3rd. IKCO slanted in a slanted rectangle, 4th. IKCO over USA, and possible 5th IKCO with no USA, but was worn. Is there any date information for the years this series of tang stamps were used?

No one can help me with this info?

[knife7knut]

Here is what I believe is my oldest Imperial tang stamp with the knife.