All About Pocket Knives

Picked up this set of Camillus Knives today. All have Crossed Swords with "Sword Brand" Hand Made etched on main blade. #'s on backs are 89, 19, 73, 71, and 70. Tangs read Camillus underlined, New York, U. S. A. Sorry for the pictures. Anyone ever see these before?

Very nice

Can anyone tell me about the # system on these Camillus knives? And possibly a way to tell their age.

I've got a #70, new in the box, identical to yours, and the box reads "Our 99th Year". Whatever year Camillus was founded and add 99 to it. Camillus founded 1876 + 99 = 1975

Ken,
your set are the Indian Stag knives.
There is a whole thread on them here: http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... 63&t=34974

ken6 wrote:Can anyone tell me about the # system on these Camillus knives? And possibly a way to tell their age.

Not from the numbers alone, nor from the tang stamp either really.
Perhaps Tom (CAMCO) Williams will come on there and address the thorny problem of dating Camillus knives.

I do know there was a change in the numbering system sometime around the end of WWII.
I have a 4-line tang stamp hawk bill pruner with a model #1001.
I have several post-WWII hawk bill pruners with the model #1.
Tom also told me about the numbering system change in that time frame, but I do not know when exactly it was.

As we have discussed in several various threads, the tang stamps alone are not reliable in dating the knives.
Tom maintains one must consider the the tang stamp, the handle material and the method by which the handles are attached to get a rough time frame of when a Camillus knife was made.

I am hoping Tom & I can make connections soon to discuss this. I would like to be able to outline a method of applying those items, tang stamp, handle material & type of attachment, to give us rough formula for dating Camillus knives. But as of this moment no such method exists that I am aware of.

Great, thanks for all the info, that helps alot.

ken6 wrote:Picked up this set of Camillus Knives today. All have Crossed Swords with "Sword Brand" Hand Made etched on main blade. #'s on backs are 89, 19, 73, 71, and 70. Tangs read Camillus underlined, New York, U. S. A. Sorry for the pictures. Anyone ever see these before?

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........great find, ken, all you're missing is a 3 7/8" #78.................. ...................

I am going to the Central KY Knife Club show in Lexington April 20th - I'll look for a #78 there, thanks.

Showing up for the first time in any catalogs I have access to in 1972 as the "New Prestige Line" of Indian Stag Knives, they were made for somewhere around ten years or so. The Prestige Line of Indian Stag Knives were still in the 1982 catalog but by 1984 had been discontinued.

I have a #70 Hiker (later, sometime before being discontinued, the name was changed to Woodcarver). It's a tiny little thing and cute as a button.

.........jerry, i've got one of the #70's too, and it is a sweet little knife!!!..also got a #77 and #48 which are almost identical to the #70, except for the handles!!........i think a good name for them would be little whittlers!!............... ...............