Thanks Lee! The Hayward Jewlery Co. was a large player in covering skeletons produced by Knife companies it actually started just a couple of years before Empire went into business. Here is some history on them.LongBlade wrote:Nice knives Greg .. nothing like a pair of Empires and a Remington ... The Hayward on the shield on the wharncliffe is very cool .. anyway Hayward seems to be a name from the old cutlery industry that seems familiar.. I have the same MOP Empire wharncliffe posted on page 1 of the Wharncliffe thread
THE WALTER E. HAYWARD COMPANY F. G. Whitney and E. W. Davenport formed the firm of F. G. Whitney & Company in 1849, and operated for half a century in the inexpensive jewelry field of production, building up a big foreign business. In 1851, Thompson, Hayward & Co. began business and four years later the name was changed to Hayward & Briggs. In 1859 the original plant was burned and a new concern, C. E. Hayward & Company rebuilt. This designation continued until 1886 when the firm became known as Hayward & Sweet, and in 1891 it was incorporated as the Walter E. Hayward Company. Frank E. Smith is president, Elmer S. Smith, vice president, Walter G. Moon, secretary, and Frank J. Ryder, treasurer of the concern. For many years this company manufactured only 18-carat gold products and it soon became the most important jewelry unit in the east part of Attleboro. Today it carries on an extensive foreign business in Canada, the Philippines, South America, China and Japan. Gold front and plated jewelry constitute the present-day products, upwards of 100 hands being employed. The concern is capitalized for $300,000.