Jay Bigler: How to date his knives

[MaryJayn Bigler]

Once in a while my father, Jay Bigler, put a date on a knife. More often, though, he did not. As I have gone through his collection and compared those dates with how he put his name on them, I have come up with an accurate range of dates for each “period” (late, middle, early).

It’s possible that Dad was making knives as early as 1994. The earliest date that I have found so far on a knife is 1995.

The very first knives he ever made were engraved with either “BIGLER” in block letters or “A.J.B.” (sometimes without periods) engraved with a script-type font. In that early time frame, 1996 and into 1997, he began using “Jay Bigler” engraved with the scripted font. Once in a while I have found a “Bigler” in script on knives. From ’97 to 2001 he began adding “Anna Il” (IL) under his name.

Regarding the folding knives, I have only found one of those that has had a date, and that was “01” (2001). That is a pretty good indication that that is when Dad started making those. Also, the very first folding knives that he made were simple and had no locking device. They were probably made around the 2001 time frame, maybe even as early as 2000.

So, a simple guideline for dates on Jay Bigler knives:

“BIGLER”, “A.J.B.”, “AJB”, and larger “Bigler” (engraved) – pre 1997
“Jay Bigler” (engraved)—1996 to 1997
“Jay Bigler Anna, IL” (engraved) – 1997 to 2001
“Jay Bigler Maker Anna IL” – 2001 to 2004
“J Bigler” a larger half circle – 2004, maybe 2003, not used on many knives
“J BIGLER” half circle – 2004 onward

[Madmarco]

Excellent reference information M.J., thanks!

[Dan In MI]

Thanks for that information! The knife I forwarded to another AAPK member was mad between 1997 and 2001.

[MaryJayn Bigler]

You're welcome, guys! Actually, writing this post helped me to refine that list from what I was using and expand it to a couple of more categories -- like the larger "J Bigler" which I had forgotten about. Here's a doodle of the final "J BIGLER" that I found that Dad did. I found the invoice for that going through some of Dad's knife stuff after he passed. I threw it away. Wish I had thought to make a note of the date to get an accurate date on when he started using it.