In 1911, H. N. Platts, was able to draw on his extensive friendships and family connections in the cutlery world to start Western States Cutlery and Manufacturing of Boulder Colorado. At first only a jobbing business, by 1920 construction and machinery purchases were underway to begin manufacture of knives. Through name changes--to Western States Cutlery Co. in 1953, then Western Cutlery Co. in 1956--and moves first across town and later to Longmont Colorado, the company stayed under the leadership of the Platt family until 1984. In that year, the company was sold to Coleman, becoming Coleman-Western. Eventually purchased by Camillus in 1991, Western continued until Camillus expired in 2007.
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.
“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
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
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.
AEFB9CAE-75C5-42D9-9089-28349D58E110.jpeg (22.1 KiB) Viewed 4396 times
It's always important to know what you don't know.
Dan
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
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.
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!
“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
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 !!!
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
Stag that Western that your wife gave you is beyond valuable. What a special treasure.
“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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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
), so I thought I’d show all the contents of the box as I don’t think I have before. 
