All About Pocket Knives

I carried a J.C. Higgins fix blade hunter knife in Viet Nam that was sent to by my bother in law in 1966. I loved that knife because it ever failed in everyday use in field and it was easy to resharpin. I wander if anybody know who made them for Sears

Here's my J.C. Higgins.

americanjack wrote:I carried a J.C. Higgins fix blade hunter knife in Viet Nam that was sent to by my bother in law in 1966. I loved that knife because it ever failed in everyday use in field and it was easy to resharpin. I wander if anybody know who made them for Sears

Sears contracted with several companies so without a picture of your knife it will be unlikely anyone will know. If you can post a picture somebody here will probably know who made it.

Ken

If you could post a picture of your knife it would allow for positive ID. Most (all ?) J.C.Higgins fixed blades were made by Schrade-Walden. Your knife might have been a S-W H 15, a knife that was carried by many U.S. servicemen during WW II and was still in production during the Vietnam years.
kj

Americanjack did it look like this? This is a Schrade Walden H-15, or a version of it, that Roland mentioned above. Most of the J.C. Higgins line of knives was Schrade made.

This isn't my knife btw, just pulled it off the net. Don't see many with the 'Survival Knife" etch.

Eric

Just checked Ebay and this one was just listed today, couldn't have asked for better timing. Definitely Schrade Walden:

Eric

Many of the J.C. Higgins branded knives were made by Western. If the knife had a bifurcated (split) tang it was a Western made knife.

Am i correct that "j.C.Higgins" was a brand name used by Sears for a variety of sporting goods ?
kj

kootenay joe wrote:Am i correct that "j.C.Higgins" was a brand name used by Sears for a variety of sporting goods ?
kj

yes sir --- my first shotgun was a J C Higgins ---bolt action .410

They also sold a J.C. Higgins stamped of the Hi Standard Flite King pump shotgun. One of the best/slickest pump shotguns ever made.

Small correction: The first Schrade Walden fixed blade knife was sold 'about' 1953. There were no Schrade fixed blades in WWII.

FRJ wrote:Here's my J.C. Higgins.

That is a mildly rare knife and I believe an Ulster U.S.A.

Calvin i'm sure you have seen reference to an H-15 knife with steel pommel with peened tang as being late WW II ?
But obviously it is wrong because you have 1953 as app date of first Schrade FB's.
This must have been discussed previously ??
kj

Thank you Cal. It is an Ulster - USA.
It originally had yellow composition covers with a stone. The covers were deteriorating.
I replaced that with smooth bone.

Thanks everyone for your help. I Looked on ebay under shrade walden and found out that it was a h 15.

Thanks everyone for your help. I Looked on ebay under shrade walden and found out that it was a h 15.

From the Sears Archives website--


Many people ask if there was a real "J.C. Higgins" who worked for Sears. There certainly was. John Higgins began working for Sears in 1898 as the manager of the headquarters' office bookkeepers and retired as company comptroller in 1930.

"John Higgins" the employee became "J.C. Higgins" the brand name during a discussion in 1908 among Sears' executives of possible names for a new line of sporting goods. At this point, the story gets a bit murky, but Higgins' name was suggested and John Higgins consented to Sears use his name. Since he did not have a middle initial, Sears added the "C."

In 1908, the Western Sporting Goods Company in Chicago began putting J.C. Higgins on baseballs and baseball gloves sold in Sears catalogs. By 1910, the J.C. Higgins trademark was extended to cover footballs and basketballs. Later, the popularity of the Higgins brand—combined with the wider participation of American youth in sports—led Sears to place tennis equipment, soccer balls, volleyballs, boxing equipment and baseball uniforms in the J.C. Higgins line.

By the 1940s, J.C. Higgins represented all Sears fishing, boating and camping equipment. After the Second World War, Sears consolidated all sporting goods under the J.C. Higgins brand name and added it to a line of luggage.

The J.C. Higgins brand disappeared shortly after Sears introduced the Ted Williams brand of sporting and recreation goods in 1961.

J.C. Higgins: 1908-1964
J.C.Higgins 1909 baseball.
J.C.Higgins Basketball 1920.
J.C.Higgins 1946 Bowling.
J.C.Higgins Football 1957.
J.C.Higgins Golf 1961.

Hi zzyzz, thanks for this bit of Sears history.
Welcome to AAPK. Please keep posting, we all enjoy history as it pertains to knives & knife brands.
kj

kootenay joe wrote:Hi zzyzz, thanks for this bit of Sears history.
Welcome to AAPK. Please keep posting, we all enjoy history as it pertains to knives & knife brands.
kj

Ask him about Western States (he is the man).

Great to know except i don't know Western well enough to even have a question, but this could change.
It is a real asset to have members who know a specific 'area' in depth. They often know an answer while the rest of us are guessing.
kj

Wayne,
Interesting info from the Sears Archives but there seems to be something missing! Is their historian trying to be politically correct by not mentioning the many firearms that were labeled J.C.Higgins? Since all the Civil War statues/monuments portraying Confederate participation are being removed because of political correctness, I thought perhaps Sears was ahead of the curve.
Treefarmer

Didn't even notice that.

Unfortunately, the Sears Archive website is incomplete. They don't even have a section on Ted Williams line of sporting goods at all, much less the Ted Williams ,22LR Rifle

I don't know the reasoning behind not listing them in the list of products and dates. Although it is probably an error. The page where I copied the text doesn't even have the list I included. When I pasted the text here, the list appeared. Maybe whatever database list the page is pulling from is corrupted.

Elsewhere in the archives, there is a "firearms" page, with answers to questions submitted to Sears. On a Higgins shotgun question, Sears stated that the Higgins 12ga shotgun first appeared in 1948 and was last sold in 1964.

link to the firearm page at the Sears archives.
http://www.searsarchives.com/products/q ... /index.htm