Well perhaps it was weakness of the flesh or the devil made me do it but I have just received a nice new addition to the Eye Brand collection. I purchased the knife from an eBay auction and probably was bidding against some fellow members here. This one really spoke to me. Upon first seeing the knife, I recognized by the color of the bone handles alone that it was an example of an much older Eye Brand. Of course, the straight line Carl Schlieper stamping was another obvious lure along with the plain large shield. Perhaps the most interesting component of this knife was the master blade stamping "Williams Bros. Cutlery". And, the Eye Brand two eye etched banner was missing which would have been common on knives of this vintage. My as yet limited research on Williams Brothers Cutlery revealed it was a knife retailer from approximately 1900 through present. The conclusion that seems to be evident is this is a contract knife commissioned by Williams Brothers Cutlery. Contract knives are, of course, not a rarity at all but in my many years of collecting the cutlery of Carl Schlieper I had never come across a knife that appeared to be a contract version.
A call to Mark Cruse in Austin (Manchaca), Texas was partially revealing. Forest Cruse, Sr. began importing Eye Brand cutlery in the early 1950's, followed by his son Forest Jr. and then Mark. Mark could say with confidence that there were no contract knives permitted to be imported into the U.S. from the mid 1960's when his father took over the business through present day. He was unsure whether his grandfather had permitted them to be produced but, if so, did not think there were many, if any, other examples. Mark indicated he had an exact duplicate of this MJ trapper in his personal Eye Brand collection and considers the Williams Bros. Cutlery knives to be extremely rare as collector pieces.
If there are any Eye Brand collectors and enthusiasts out there that could offer up other information or examples, I think it would be interesting for all of us to see.
Joe D.
