hillsville, va - annual knife and gun show...how did i do???

[steve]

well, this weekend was the annual knife and gun show flea market at hillsville va. i saw alot of nice knives and met some great people. i picked up these two bulldog brand knives. being mainly a case collector, i dont know as much about bulldog brand knives so i was wondering if someone could help me out as far as identifying these two knives as far as what generation they are, what pattern, and what handles?

both knives are tang stamped with the fighting bulldog stamp on the front and the back is stamped bulldog brand, hammer forged, solingen germany and neither knife has a date on the blade. both are also stamped on the bolster with the fighting dog stamp and handmade.

i didnt have anyway to look them up at the flea market and like i said i dont know as much about bulldogs so i was flying without a net, so to speak....lol. anyway, my guess was first generation since the blades have the fighting dog stamp and arent dated. as for pattern, i would call them barlows and as for handles, im not sure, the tan one kind of looks like bone but could be a swirl and the other one looks like what could be duckfeather???? ........i dont know but these were my guesses, so i thought i would post them here and get some expert evaluations from some more knowledgeable bulldog collectors........

steve

[steve]

the other knife

[olderdogs1]

As someone who has most of the 1st generations I can assure that these are not 1st generation Bulldogs. These knives are new knives produced in the last couple of years. They are however considered some of the best quality of the current bulldogs. When Hukk swings by he will be able to tell you retail price and maybe the handle materials also.
Tom

[Hukk]

Tom is correct, these are 2006 Barlows with a clip blade, the 2007 has a sheepsfoot blade and I see a lot of prototypes in the 2007, 20 of each material in fact.

You have the 2006 Barlow which was available from Parkers Knife Collectors Services PKCS for either $19.99 or $24.99 each (I'm 99% certain it was $24.99). My catalogs from 2006 are at my mother in laws, we are moving there on the 13th of this month to help her out with the maintenance of her house and property. She is dying of lung cancer but is still relatively healthy - all things considered.

The fifth generation started in 2000 and many say we are still in the fifth generation. BUT quite a few people now claim we are in the sixth generation and they make a strong case. In 2000 the fifth generation began when they started to use the double dog head tang stamp. That lasted until 2004 when they went back to the original fighting dog tang stamp that was used in the first, second and third generations.

Since all the other generations have been designated with the start of a new tang stamp or a change in ownership, the case for being in the sixth generation is quite strong, with Jim Parker's untimely death and bringing back the original tang stamp in 2004 to celebrate the 25 year anniversary of Bulldog Brand Knives.

The fighting dog tangstamp was used 1978 to 1995 (first 3 generations) and 2004 to present.
Between 600 and 800 (approximately) of these 2006 Barlows were made, usually with only 20 to each celluloid color (33 or 35 celluloid colors) and the stag knives (100) that were made. I can't recall if any were made with Buffalo Horn. (that's why you see 1 of 20 on the celluloids, they had up to 35 colors, but marketed them as 1 of 20 instead of 1 of 800+ when you count the stag and others).

It is a strong simply made knife, the bolsters are spot welded to the liner and pinned together with a backspring and blade, very simple design, but I have a dozen I want to play with. OK, modify drastically

The clip blade may have been in inventory for use in another knife, that's why there is a lack of a date on the tang.

So, are we in the SIXTH GENERATION? A good question when you look at past history.

Although a simple design, it is quite rugged, likely the most rugged of the 2006 line. One of mine saw a lot of abuse and hangs in there quite nicely.
These, while small are nice knives.

[Hukk]

Oh, handles, looks like the first could be Burlwood Celluloid and the other with those blue stripes could be blue lapis, but it's hard to keep up with when they have so many celluloids, over 40 in their arsenal I hear.

[steve]

thanks guys, i appreciate the help. sounds like i gave market price for a couple of bulldogs..... ah well, all kidding aside, they are very nice knives, even tho they werent quite the steal i thought they was . the tang stamps are what threw me because i remembered reading that the fighting dog stamped knives that came out after the first and second generations were suppose to either be date stamped or have surgical steel stamp.....

[Hukk]

Not all are marked, there are a lot of exceptions and that throws people off. I have some 2004 4 1/8 inch trappers without dates, again likely they already had some blades made. I know they are 2004 because no other year had the reverse frosted etch with handles of Apple Coral, Abalone, Ivory, and Tiger Coral and these are all prototypes. 2003 would have double dog head, 2005 has a black etch. 2000 to 2003 Double Doghead has no dates at all. I have some 3 1/2 inch congress that are mistakes, fighting dog tang stamp with a 25 year shield for 2004, but blades are marked 1995 (15 years). They also did not have the exotic handle materials that were used in 2004 knives.

Good rule of thumb but there is a lot of variables. They also say the year is stamped so you won't mistake a knife from the wrong generation. For a Bulldog collector, merely a glance is enough to determine that they did not make it then.

[remington collector]

That Imperial coke bottle knife I posted the other day was purchased at Hillsville on Friday. If I had known you were going to be there, we could have meet and looked at some knives.

[steve]

yep, we sure couldve remington. this is the first year ive been to the labor day flea market. i usually go to the one on memorial day. theres quite a bit more on labor day tho...infact we went back twice, sunday and monday. had a great time and saw some really great knives that i wouldve loved to had. i was on the lookout for anyone from the group here that might have an aapk hat on but didnt see anyone.
i did meet a couple of vendors up there that was in the tarheel cutlery club and one was the president i believe of it. they gave me a card and invited me to their next meeting. all in all we had a good time tho.

did you find many deals?

[remington collector]

I didn't have a lot of luck with the vintage Remingtons this time. I saw a few overpriced , well worn bullets and a few counterfeit pearl Remingtons. I did manage to find a few parts knives as well as several old pocketwatches from inside the VFW building. I usually go on Memorial day weekend as well, but theres alot more sellers during Labor day weekend.

[redferd]

They sure are nice .