Hammer Brand tang stamps

[Desktop]

I got a Hammer Toothpick from a fried a while ago. It's a regular cracked ice toothpick that was in pretty bad shape with lots of rust and corrosion on the blade and bolsters. Anyhow, when I looked carefully at the tang stamp I noticed immediately that it was different. Over the years I've seen plenty of Hammer Brand tang stamps and although there is some variation in the size and outline of the 'hand/hammer' motif and the 'USA' text, most of them are about the same size. There is one 'hand/hammer' stamp however that is a bit smaller than the others, and the 'USA' text is also different. This particular toothpick had the smaller 'hand/hammer' but it also had a 'circle' to the right of the 'USA'. I've never seen this before and I don't know if this 'circle' stamp was used in production for a while, or if it's some kind of anomaly. Has anyone seen this 'circle' stamp before? Any information is welcome!

Hammer_stamps.jpg (86.47 KiB) Viewed 1302 times

[Mossdancer]

Hi Desktop:
I would not even try to answer your question with all the experience there is on these knives here on AAPK. As a suggestion go over to Knife Lore and repost your question there. There are some folks over there that are just amazing. There have been several past posts on Hammer Brand and NY Knife Co. You might try the search link at the header of AAPK. Usually one word will give you more than a person wants to pursue.
moss

[Desktop]

Hi Desktop:
I would not even try to answer your question with all the experience there is on these knives here on AAPK. As a suggestion go over to Knife Lore and repost your question there. There are some folks over there that are just amazing. There have been several past posts on Hammer Brand and NY Knife Co. You might try the search link at the header of AAPK. Usually one word will give you more than a person wants to pursue.
moss

Thank you very much moss!