December 19, 1967 Bowie knife time capsule.
December 19, 1967 Bowie knife time capsule.
This knife has been posted before and was recently the instrument of a thread derail (who me? ), so I thought I’d show all the contents of the box as I don’t think I have before.
I received this knife just as it’s shown here about 4 years ago as a Christmas gift from my parents. Dad bought it at an estate auction for $30 not knowing anything about it except that I like Western knives. I wish I could run up in another deal like this!
Can you imagine opening this on Christmas morning 1967? I don’t know who received it or what their reaction was. But my reaction 50 some odd years later was utter excitement. Here she is including the original sales receipt. It’s raining cats and dogs here so these were taken inside as best I could. The knife is so shiny that I could get a good tang stamp pic without it going fuzzy. Any specks you see is left over wax from the last time I wiped it down.
I received this knife just as it’s shown here about 4 years ago as a Christmas gift from my parents. Dad bought it at an estate auction for $30 not knowing anything about it except that I like Western knives. I wish I could run up in another deal like this!
Can you imagine opening this on Christmas morning 1967? I don’t know who received it or what their reaction was. But my reaction 50 some odd years later was utter excitement. Here she is including the original sales receipt. It’s raining cats and dogs here so these were taken inside as best I could. The knife is so shiny that I could get a good tang stamp pic without it going fuzzy. Any specks you see is left over wax from the last time I wiped it down.
“There are things in the old Book which I may not be able to explain, but I fully accept it as the infallible word of God, and receive its teachings as inspired by the Holy Spirit.”
Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Re: December 19, 1967 Bowie knife time capsule.
The last picture above is a booklet with the history of the Bowie knife. These are the inside pages and the back.
“There are things in the old Book which I may not be able to explain, but I fully accept it as the infallible word of God, and receive its teachings as inspired by the Holy Spirit.”
Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Re: December 19, 1967 Bowie knife time capsule.
Great knife and story. ____Dave
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Re: December 19, 1967 Bowie knife time capsule.
Great story Colonel.
A year and a half before the Apollo 11 Moon landing.
What also stood out to me was your original sales receipt you have in comparison to all the financial necessities that are now required.
A year and a half before the Apollo 11 Moon landing.
What also stood out to me was your original sales receipt you have in comparison to all the financial necessities that are now required.
It's always important to know what you don't know.
Dan
Dan
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Re: December 19, 1967 Bowie knife time capsule.
Those Western W49s are really nice and hefty, great sheaths too. I was almost 7 months old when this transaction happened.
Pocket, fixed, machete, axe, it's all good!
You're going to look awfully silly with that knife sticking out of your @#$. -Clint Eastwood, High Plains Drifter
You're going to look awfully silly with that knife sticking out of your @#$. -Clint Eastwood, High Plains Drifter
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Re: December 19, 1967 Bowie knife time capsule.
To have the original sales receipt adds a great deal to a new in box vintage knife. You know it's age as well as the price; $13 !
Top of the top for The Western Bowie. Your dad is an accomplished deal finder !
kj
Top of the top for The Western Bowie. Your dad is an accomplished deal finder !
kj
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Re: December 19, 1967 Bowie knife time capsule.
An excellent time capsule that provides a details about the Western Bowie/W49 series of knives.
The mirror/satin finish was alive and well out the factory door as early as the 1966-1967 version, shown here. Now, we just need someone to find a NIB Inverted Bowie (IB) version to settle the "matte vs satin/mirror" debate for that version.
This also shows that the dangler sheath, while advertised as "new for 1968", actually came out sometime in 1967, once again proving the adage that "Marketing Hype Trumps Truth".
Thanks for sharing this treasure with us.
And, while cheap when compared with the price of these and similar knives of today, we need to remember that in 1967 $14 (rounding) was a significant chunk of change, as the minimum wage was $1.40 per hour.
The mirror/satin finish was alive and well out the factory door as early as the 1966-1967 version, shown here. Now, we just need someone to find a NIB Inverted Bowie (IB) version to settle the "matte vs satin/mirror" debate for that version.
This also shows that the dangler sheath, while advertised as "new for 1968", actually came out sometime in 1967, once again proving the adage that "Marketing Hype Trumps Truth".
Thanks for sharing this treasure with us.
And, while cheap when compared with the price of these and similar knives of today, we need to remember that in 1967 $14 (rounding) was a significant chunk of change, as the minimum wage was $1.40 per hour.
Re: December 19, 1967 Bowie knife time capsule.
Thank you for the kind words guys. I’d love to find one of these I could afford in decent used condition to play around with in the back 40. Id not dare do so with this one.
Here is a screen shot. I pulled up an inflation calculator. This is pretty sad how much less our money is worth today vs 1967. But zz is right. It was not a cheap knife at all at $13.38 in 1967!
Here is a screen shot. I pulled up an inflation calculator. This is pretty sad how much less our money is worth today vs 1967. But zz is right. It was not a cheap knife at all at $13.38 in 1967!
“There are things in the old Book which I may not be able to explain, but I fully accept it as the infallible word of God, and receive its teachings as inspired by the Holy Spirit.”
Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Re: December 19, 1967 Bowie knife time capsule.
A really nice tribute to as far as I am concerned for quality and value,
one of the very best knives ever made !!!
I have 2 of em, hope to have the one handled in elk one of these days as I have a full set of elk antlers
The other...my most prized knife I own...my wife who died 2 years ago next month...
gave it to me for Christmas, 1971..and I remember I was making $2.95 cents a hour, cause the boss gave me a 30 cent raise at Christmas...
My Mother-in-Law gave her 10 bucks so she could buy it for me at K-Mart, believe it was right around 20.00 bucks at the time
it was our first of 47 Christmas days we were blessed to spend together !!!
Stag
one of the very best knives ever made !!!
I have 2 of em, hope to have the one handled in elk one of these days as I have a full set of elk antlers
The other...my most prized knife I own...my wife who died 2 years ago next month...
gave it to me for Christmas, 1971..and I remember I was making $2.95 cents a hour, cause the boss gave me a 30 cent raise at Christmas...
My Mother-in-Law gave her 10 bucks so she could buy it for me at K-Mart, believe it was right around 20.00 bucks at the time
it was our first of 47 Christmas days we were blessed to spend together !!!
Stag
Re: December 19, 1967 Bowie knife time capsule.
Col, that's really neat, that everything has remained together! Hard to believe, that was 52 years ago.
Stag...great story, too!
Stag...great story, too!
Heretical Refurb / Mods of cheap old folders, since late 2018
Re: December 19, 1967 Bowie knife time capsule.
Stag that Western that your wife gave you is beyond valuable. What a special treasure.stagman wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 6:28 am A really nice tribute to as far as I am concerned for quality and value,
one of the very best knives ever made !!!
I have 2 of em, hope to have the one handled in elk one of these days as I have a full set of elk antlers
The other...my most prized knife I own...my wife who died 2 years ago next month...
gave it to me for Christmas, 1971..and I remember I was making $2.95 cents a hour, cause the boss gave me a 30 cent raise at Christmas...
My Mother-in-Law gave her 10 bucks so she could buy it for me at K-Mart, believe it was right around 20.00 bucks at the time
it was our first of 47 Christmas days we were blessed to spend together !!!
Stag
“There are things in the old Book which I may not be able to explain, but I fully accept it as the infallible word of God, and receive its teachings as inspired by the Holy Spirit.”
Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Re: December 19, 1967 Bowie knife time capsule.
Thanks for showing off that Bowie again, Colonel! So that knife probably contributed to two men having a super Christmas! When I saw the original post with the $13 price I did have to do a mental calculation. My first summer job back in 1970 paid $1.50 and hour: at that time plenty of grown men were working for $2 an hour in the little place where I grew up. So it was no cheap knife back then. That receipt with the December date certainly gives one food for thought.Colonel26 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 1:16 am This knife has been posted before and was recently the instrument of a thread derail (who me? ), so I thought I’d show all the contents of the box as I don’t think I have before.
I received this knife just as it’s shown here about 4 years ago as a Christmas gift from my parents. Dad bought it at an estate auction for $30 not knowing anything about it except that I like Western knives. I wish I could run up in another deal like this!
Can you imagine opening this on Christmas morning 1967? I don’t know who received it or what their reaction was. But my reaction 50 some odd years later was utter excitement. Here she is including the original sales receipt. It’s raining cats and dogs here so these were taken inside as best I could. The knife is so shiny that I could get a good tang stamp pic without it going fuzzy. Any specks you see is left over wax from the last time I wiped it down.
I think a couple of my favorite things that I found under the tree on Christmas as a boy were hunting knives. I do not have a single knife from that era - I was hard on a knife and lost more than one.
Mel
Re: December 19, 1967 Bowie knife time capsule.
I’ve heard my parents talk about making less than $2.00/hour. But momma’s father (Pa) who was born in 1921 told me that when he was a kid he worked for 25¢ a day. Grown men were paid 50¢ for doing the same jobs and that always upset him that he was doing the same work for half the pay. Different times, but it is interesting, if not sad to see how devalued our money has become.Dinadan wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 5:12 pmThanks for showing off that Bowie again, Colonel! So that knife probably contributed to two men having a super Christmas! When I saw the original post with the $13 price I did have to do a mental calculation. My first summer job back in 1970 paid $1.50 and hour: at that time plenty of grown men were working for $2 an hour in the little place where I grew up. So it was no cheap knife back then. That receipt with the December date certainly gives one food for thought.Colonel26 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 1:16 am This knife has been posted before and was recently the instrument of a thread derail (who me? ), so I thought I’d show all the contents of the box as I don’t think I have before.
I received this knife just as it’s shown here about 4 years ago as a Christmas gift from my parents. Dad bought it at an estate auction for $30 not knowing anything about it except that I like Western knives. I wish I could run up in another deal like this!
Can you imagine opening this on Christmas morning 1967? I don’t know who received it or what their reaction was. But my reaction 50 some odd years later was utter excitement. Here she is including the original sales receipt. It’s raining cats and dogs here so these were taken inside as best I could. The knife is so shiny that I could get a good tang stamp pic without it going fuzzy. Any specks you see is left over wax from the last time I wiped it down.
I think a couple of my favorite things that I found under the tree on Christmas as a boy were hunting knives. I do not have a single knife from that era - I was hard on a knife and lost more than one.
“There are things in the old Book which I may not be able to explain, but I fully accept it as the infallible word of God, and receive its teachings as inspired by the Holy Spirit.”
Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee