8OT Salesman's Sample?

[orvet]

Saturday I went to a gun and knife show in a town close to where I live. I went because a friend and told me there were usually pretty good knives there. Friday evening another friend had been setting up at that show, called and told me that there were a lot of knives there and that I should come on down to the show. Both friends were correct in their advice and I did find a lot of knives. I found one seller at the show who had a few Schrades that she claimed came from a friend who had been a sales rep for Schrade. Her prices were a bit high and she didn’t have many knives that I was interested in except one 8OT that had very pretty Delrin handles, but had some rust on the blade spines. She had another 8OT that was still in the box, but she wanted quite a bit more for it.
I bought the one with rust on the spine figuring it would make a good and EDC for someone. I took it home and I started to clean the rust with a graphite pencil starting on the mark side of the clip blade. When I turned the clip blade over to see how much rust was on the other side, this is what I found:

It is pretty clear to see the 8OT handwritten on the back of the blade but there are probably three or four letters or numbers written beyond that, which have been mostly wiped off so that they are illegible.

I own a lot of Schrades, but never a salesman sample. I have seen a good number of salesmen samples posted online and even a few in person. I do not however recall seeing a Schrade 8OT of post Schrade Walden production that was a salesman samples with the numbers written on the blade.

Here are some more pictures of this knife. Notice the Delrin handle seems to be a much richer color than many of them. I don't know if that dates this knife for if there was a special polishing of this knife because it's a salesman sample?

The knife was not presented to me as a salesman sample and if I hadn’t been paying a little bit of attention I would likely have wiped the remaining numbers off because I certainly was not expecting to find them on there.
Is this a legitimate salesman sample?
Has anyone else seen salesman sample markings on a newer (post Schrade Walden) Old Timer?
I would appreciate hearing from people more knowledgeable than myself on the subject.
Thank you

[Meridian_Mike]

WOW.... those handles sure look NICE!!
I would have to say the handles would seem to indicate a "special" knife of some sort. I'm sure the salesmen would have been presented with "extra nice" knives to show potential buyers.
I can't speak to the issue concerning a "true" salesman's sample knife but.... the indicators sure seem to be present.

I will bow to the experts for a more definite answer.

VERY NICE knife you have there Dale!
8OT is about my favorite of the Old Timer line and the RICH color on the handles of that one sure make it special!
Again..... WOW!!

Congrats!

[KnifeSlinger#81]

The thought of writing a salesmans pattern number on the blade while there is a stamped pattern number is curious. I have not seen inked schrade salesman samples from the delrin era so it's certainly interesting. Don't know the provenance of it but you have what looks like a good example of an 8ot at any rate.

[Mumbleypeg]

That’s a really nice example Dale. I have read somewhere that some makers used a special type of ink to mark salesman sample knives. What that was and how to recognize it, or whether Schrade used it, is beyond my knowledge. Wish knew something about Schrade’s marketing and sales methods but I can’t even speculate about that either.

Ken

[bladecollectorr]

That’s a really nice example Dale. I have read somewhere that some makers used a special type of ink to mark salesman sample knives. What that was and how to recognize it, or whether Schrade used it, is beyond my knowledge. Wish knew something about Schrade’s marketing and sales methods but I can’t even speculate about that either.

Ken

Schrade Cut Co for sure used "special cutlery ink" to mark their salesman samples. The model numbers were long and they weren't stamped on the knives so it made a lot of sense. The ink was listed in their 1932 pricelist in the "Sundries" section page 12. 60cents fo' 2oz.

As KS81 mentioned, it seems redundant and unnecessary to ink the knife when the pattern is stamped on the tang already. On the other hand the ink and the fancy style of "T" look about right. A Sharpie won't do that.

Do I see "12.95" or something on the knife as well? Maybe it got inked with a price and model which might make more sense. Salesman could see both at the same time. Original inked price maybe removed by a seller who wanted a lot more for it, being a salesman sample and all. Total conjecture!

[tongueriver]

Color me skeptical. As far as I know, inking blades ended with Schrade Cutlery Company (Schrade CutCo) in late 1946. The OP knife dates to no earlier than sometime in 1973. And I don't think the "T" looks like one that would have been inked back in the day, either. I think the ink was put there for the benefit of someone who had a harder time reading the stamp. I have a jumbo Schrade/Wostenholm stockman with a salesman's stamp on the bolster of 0000.

[bladecollectorr]

Color me skeptical. As far as I know, inking blades ended with Schrade Cutlery Company (Schrade CutCo) in late 1946. The OP knife dates to no earlier than sometime in 1973. And I don't think the "T" looks like one that would have been inked back in the day, either. I think the ink was put there for the benefit of someone who had a harder time reading the stamp. I have a jumbo Schrade/Wostenholm stockman with a salesman's stamp on the bolster of 0000.

That's my gut answer too. Never seen ink before on a Schrade from that period.

I searched a bit and, on second thought, the "T" doesn't look at all Cut Co. Whoever was inking the Cut Co knives was likely long dead before this 8OT was made though so things could have changed a bit. I'm just throwing this wild stuff out there as random thought "brainstorming" that Dale can use or discard when he makes up his own mind.

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[tongueriver]

I would bet a dollar to a doughnut that the ink used was a version of "india" ink. By the way, that phrase was probably coined when doughnuts were a penny or a nickel!

[jxr1197]

I've got 3 examples of inked knives from the 1950s, 2 of them are inked even though there's a pattern number on the knife. I can't remember seeing ink on newer knives.

145 and 148 inked:

This one is possibly from the sample room. No pattern number on the tang, just the ink:

[jxr1197]

I searched a bit and, on second thought, the "T" doesn't look at all Cut Co. Whoever was inking the Cut Co knives was likely long dead before this 8OT was made though so things could have changed a bit. I'm just throwing this wild stuff out there as random thought "brainstorming" that Dale can use or discard when he makes up his own mind.

I've got this little Cut Co pen knife with ink on it that I didn't think to include in my last post but then I looked back and saw it on BC's post!
I've had that knife for a few years now - did I buy it from you?

[tongueriver]

Small world! I just pulled this SW version out of the mailbox an hour ago.

[tongueriver]

Here's a shot of a CutCo inkydinky.

[KnifeSlinger#81]

Here's a shot of a CutCo inkydinky.pile.JPG

Cal, the salesmans ink on that knife is sooo fake, you should send it to me as I know how to deal with it.

[bladecollectorr]

I've got this little Cut Co pen knife with ink on it that I didn't think to include in my last post but then I looked back and saw it on BC's post!
I've had that knife for a few years now - did I buy it from you?

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That's funny. No, it was never mine to sell. This is no plug for the site but that is WorthPoint in action, sort of.https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ ... 1941948498

I have never paid for a membership because when I tried it for free it really didn't tell me much I didn't already know from following ebay finished auctions myself. On some patterns I'd archived more auctions than they had available lol. So my complaint would be that they archive a selection of ebay finished auctions and not all of them by a long shot which greatly diminishes it's usefulness when it comes to any calculation of long-term averages. Of course the logistics of archiving every finished auction forever makes it impossible. Infinite is a pretty big number of listings.

What it is good for is using it's search function just to see the pics and descriptions of uncommon stuff. Sometimes it will find stuff not obvious in other search engines. I searched Schrade Cut Co sample and Schrade Cut Co salesman and BINGO! your knife was one of the inked samples that appeared which I sorted for ones with a "T".

Pro-tip: Open their images by left-clicking on them then right-click on the pop-up image and "inspect element" the "console" will open up. There you will find a blue link to the original size photos (which can be far larger than WorthPoint wants to show you for free). Left-click blue link and "open in new tab" for original size image. Fair use!

The rest

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[jxr1197]

This is no plug for the site but that is WorthPoint in action, sort of.

Good info on Worthpoint . The site always pops up in search results but I've never paid any attention to it. Looks like I should be...