IKCO The Imperial Knife Company

[deadsledmotors]

Imperial collection.approx 1 3/4 inch blade.Handle emblem is a crown. Patent numbers on 1 inch blade.

[shugy]

Hey deadsled, you happen to know what yrs that crown was used? Oh and

[deadsledmotors]

Thanks for the welcome. Right now I dont have any info on crown dates.

[tjmurphy]

Don't know about the crown shield but this might help you

Imperial.jpg (36.36 KiB) Viewed 4298 times

[shugy]

cool tj thanks for that info, I did'nt think that knife was that old. are they still in biz? And let us know when you cut the CD for Delaney

[tjmurphy]

Not sure, but I don't think that Imperial is still in business. As far as the CD for Delaney Marie, you'll get the first copy

[deadsledmotors]

Imperial Schrade Corp. was an American knife manufacturer of hunting knives and pocketknives. Imperial Schrade was the consolidation of five forerunner companies,[1] including its namesakes, the Imperial Knife Company, founded 1916, and the Schrade Cutlery Company, founded in 1904. In 2004, the company stopped making knives and closed its factory. The name was bought by Taylor Brands and used for marketing purposes. from wikipedia

[orvet]

In 1942 Albert Baer formed Imperial Knife Associated Companies, (IKCA), by joining his Ulster Knife Co with Imperial. The companies were closely tied together after that. In 1946 Baer purchased Schrade Cutlery Co. and Schrade Walden became a Division of IKAC. Albert Baer continued to purchase Imperial stock and in 1983 he owned all the shares of Imperial and it becomes a privately held corporation.
In 1985 he changed the name to Imperial Schrade Corp. Imperial Schrade continued to produce knives under the Imperial name until the close in 2004. If you check the 2004 Schrade price list you will find Imperial Jackmaster knives listed on it.

Here are some other Imperial tang stamps pics originally published in Knife World and posted a few years ago by LT.

Tang stamps #2A and #4A in the Knife World article do not appear on the 4th list.

Imperial tang markings 1.jpg (38.94 KiB) Viewed 4633 times

Imperial tang markings 2.jpg (43.23 KiB) Viewed 4633 times

Imperial tang markings 3.jpg (36.36 KiB) Viewed 4633 times

[whitebuffalo58]

Here's one that never shows up on any list. The whole knife is rather an oddity. Hammer Brand spear master in a Barlow, Imperial pen secondary with all cap block lettering, vert. USA and no crown. And, the handle wraps aren't the typical cracked ice color or pattern. I have three knives with this handle material, and all are HB's.
Dale, I noticed the HB stamps shown in the first chart, shows 3 sleeve rolls on the arm. On all the HB stamps I have, in those eras, there's only 2. Like the ones shown on the second chart.

WB

[orvet]

Rob,
I see your knife listed in the 1952 Imperial catalog.
It is a Hammer Brand, but of course I can't read the tang stamps in the pic.
They were sold in display cards of one dozen.
The same display ( display #JM-435) is listed in the 1959 catalog for the whopping wholesale price of $4.35 per display of one dozen knives.

I would copy pics of the displays but they are in a format I can't copy from.

[whitebuffalo58]

Thanks Dale, i've always assumed the knife, pattern wise, was correct. There's no sign of any tampering. Good to know for sure, now.
The Imperial tang stamp still baffles me. I know it's not unusual to have mixed parts from Imp. & HB in the same knife, but the stamp on the pen is sort of a combination of '36-'52 and '56-'88 stamps. Block lettering/no crown, but yet a vert. USA. At first I thought maybe they took a '36-'52 pen blade and just added the USA stamp to it. But, #1-Imperial seldom gave a hoot about such things. Why go to the trouble?! And, #2- if you look closely, there is a subtle difference between an actual '36-'52 stamp and the one on this knife. Typically, the "P" in Prov. aligns with the "M" in Imperial and Prov. R.I. is centered below the Imperial. In this case the "P" aligns with the outer edge of the "I" and PROV. R.I. takes up the same space as the word IMPERIAL. Not a huge difference, I agree. But, enough to lead me to believe this is a stamp that for some reason, wasn't used often. And to top it all off, it's been my experience, that very few Imperial pen blades were ever stamped with anything other then U.S.A. or pat'd numbers.
I'm sure I havn't seen everything, but this combination of little quirks is something i've never seen before or since.

WB

[PigSticker]

Here's some pinned handled Imperail's most WWII & earlier The whittler is the latest & two blade jack bottom (Got that off Scott-Thanks again Scottie)

[Miller Bro's]

Here are a couple from the 1930`s.............

[johnnierotten]

Nice knives Fellas. ....Dimitri...love the Bartenders knife.


Heres my latest...

[Cutty]

'30-'36 Imperial Providence,R.I.

[Miller Bro's]

Thanks Johnnie

Nice one`s you guys are showing.....

Imperial sure did use some interesting and colorful handle material

[313 Mike]

Nice ones guys!
Johnnie, that jack almost looks like it's on a trapper frame...except with a clip and pen instead of the clip and spey. What is the closed length on that one?
Mike

[johnnierotten]

She's about 3.5 closed.

Case made a dog leg jack...it was a 6207 (trapper) with a pen blade instead of spey...it was discontinued in 1978.

[Joe Dirt]

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E Sing it guys!

This little EO with the integerated tip bolsters
is the first one of these I have ever seen!!!
It measures 2- 3/4".

I had to reprofile the tip of the blade and put a new
pivot pin in it.
Works well now and has a hard snap and a half stop.

It dates from '30 to '36 with the unabreviated "Providence R.I."
under Imperial stamp on it.

..... Joe

[Miller Bro's]

Nice find Joe!

[whitebuffalo58]

Here's a few early toothpicks.

WB

[knifeaholic]

Wow!! That two blade in bone is nice and a super rare one!!

[whitebuffalo58]

Thanks Steve!
It's definetly a topdog amongst my toothpicks, I don't think it was ever carried or used.

WB

[Joe Dirt]

That's gotta be the oldest stamp I have seen, Rob!! Very NICE collection of toothpicks!

I have a few I haven't posted yet. The handle colors on these are amazing to me.

Robert Paolantonio says the hatchet blades were used by the Italians to chop and gather mushrooms in the wild!

... Joe

[whitebuffalo58]

Thanks Joe! Awesome knives ya got there!! Never had one of the hatchet knives.
Not sure if i've posted these before, but here's a couple of cousins to ones you just posted. Love the spider celluloid!!

WB