All About Pocket Knives

This is my very first question. I don't know what all the computer language is about but don't guess it's necessary to ask questions.
In Pocket Knife Trader's Price Guide, vol.7, by Jim Parker, it is not clear exactly when the 5th generation of knives began. Please tell me the exact page.
Also some numbers have sub-letters such as 257 and 257-B. Notice they are exactly alike except for the number made. Please explain how I will know how to classify the knife.
I am very proud of the Purple Passion Display knife(1025D) and Pearl Sunfish(1005) that I recently purchased.
Thank you Johnnie(Jonet 143) for referring me to all my new friends.
Von

welcome von. we have several bulldog authorities here who will answer your questions. i am moving your post to our q&a section. i think you'll get more responce there.

Not sure I am considered an authority but I think I can answer some of your questions.
When the Bulldog Collector's club was established the 1st generation knives were assigned a number. Later when Jim Parker bought the rights from Charlie Dorton, he had a lot of knives finished out using older parts and older dated blades, around 1991. This is where the A's and B's, commonly refered to as 2nd generations, come in. Even though some are listed alike in Volume 7, there is almost always something that distinguishes them from the older knives. For instance a 1st generation knife with greenbone handles will be listed the same but there is a different jigging on the second generation knife. Same way with a golddust handled knife. The gold Dust handle is somewhat different than the 1st generation knife. Some of the 2nd Generation knives which is what the A's and B's are called will have main blades that have a longer matchstriker pull than is on the 1st generations. This is the case with the Lumberjacks and several other patterns.
Some handle materials were not used on the 1st generation knives such as End of Day and Brown Pearloid and some others. Of course these colors will be listed in the Volume 7. The shields are different on some of the 2nd generations also. Sometimes it is a larger size on the 2nd generations which is the case with the Old Chum Stags.
As far as the 5th generation knives I am far from an expert on those but believe they started in 2000 with the double doghead tang stamp. A few of course still had the standing dog stamp for awhile I would guess until blades got used up.
I hope this helps somewhat. It can be a little confusing but with experience you will be able to tell in almost all cases what you are looking at. There have been some wonderful posts on Bulldogs on this forum and you would learn a lot, as we all do, by looking at them.
Welcome to the forum.
Tom

olderdogs1 wrote:As far as the 5th generation knives I am far from an expert on those but believe they started in 2000 with the double doghead tang stamp. A few of course still had the standing dog stamp for awhile I would guess until blades got used up.
I hope this helps somewhat. It can be a little confusing but with experience you will be able to tell in almost all cases what you are looking at. There have been some wonderful posts on Bulldogs on this forum and you would learn a lot, as we all do, by looking at them.
Welcome to the forum.
Tom

Yep, I agree with everything Tom said, he is quite an autority on many Bulldog knives and I learned a lot from him.
The year 2000 was the start of the 5th generation, we had the 2000 standing dog, the double dog head stamping and we also had some with the millenium etch and 2000 shield. In 2004 we also had the fighting dogs from the first generation again for Bulldogs 25th anniversary. So, the fifth generation can look a little messy. I have seen some 2006 knives with the fighting dogs tang stamp also. AND I have seen these being passed off as first generation on eBay a couple times