tang stamp questions

[Berryb]

I recently got this knife. It appears to be a #33. A tipped blade but otherwise ok- too bad they didn't invent phillips screws sooner, that might have kept alot of guys from using their pocket knives for screw drivers.
anyway... it has steel liners and a 4 line stamp. There are no periods in the U S A part of the stamp. The USMC 4 line has no periods, but this does not look like that stamp. Is there any significance to no periods or am I being too nit pickey? Also when did Camillus start stamping model numbers on the knives? And is it a reliable method to date Camillus knives?

[Berryb]

Trying last night to answer the above questions on my own, but ended up with another question. I looked at several #33s, the op knife is the only one I saw with a bail (called a 'shackle' by Camillus). Is my knife really a #33? There is no model number on it. Thanks
Bruce

[msteele6]

Not too sure about the periods, never really paid any attention, however, very few Camillus knives produced before WWII were pattern stamped (out of about 200 Camillus knives I own, 7 pre-WWII knives have pattern numbers and all of them are 4 digits).

After the war many Camillus knives were patten stamped, usually with a 2 digit pattern number.

Your knife was produced pre-WWII (or perhaps during) and would probably have had the pattern number 2033 if it had been marked.

JMO

[treefarmer]

Berryb, check this out: http://www.collectors-of-camillus.us/ In the section Camillus knives of WWII there is a drawing, an EZ open with a bail/shackle. The military number appears to be 5541/2. It looks like a #33 except for the bail. Didn't notice dimensions.
Treefarmer