Marbles Buster Brown Health Knife

[Tab]

I purchased the pictured Marbles Buster Brown Knife and it came with the attached Sheath as original. It definitely is not the same sheath that is shown in the Marbles Encyclopedia of Knives book which has Buster Brown Shoes on it and has stacked 3 Lines. This Sheath is 2 lines also with Buster Brown Shoes. I could find no reference of anyone else other than Marbles ever making a Buster Brown Sheath Knife or Marbles having this version of a sheath with 2 lines. This sheath also has almost an identical rivet location pattern as the Marbles one and looks very professionally stamped. If anyone can help with the identification of this sheath, it would be much appreciated.

Buster Brown Knife 1

Buster Brown Knife 2

Buster Brown Knife 3

Buster Brown Knife 4

Buster Brown Knife 5

[btrwtr]

There are at least 3 variations of the Marble's Buster Brown woodcraft knife. The sheath looks correct to me but I don't recall seeing another marked this way. Hopefully someone will have a definitive answer for you.

[Tab]

Thanks for the information and follow up. I am hoping this sheath is original but can't find any proof. Hopefully someone can point me to the information on this heath and confirm whether it is original to this knife design since I have searched everywhere to find one similar or any information on it and can't. Perhaps it's hand made/stamped since it looks very professionally made. Based on the snap design and patina of the sheath, I believe that it is the same era of this first Knife. I did not realize that there was 3 versions of this Buster Brown knife. I have only seen this one marked "Buster Brown Health Shoes" and "Buster Brown Shoes". Any information on the 3rd version of this knife you mentioned would be appreciated. Thanks again

[kootenay joe]

I am not a collector of these but applying 'common sense' it would seem that your sheath is the original. All aspects of the sheath match the known original except for the stacked 2 lines instead of 3 lines. And the sheath appears to have the right amount of aging.
A simple explanation would be that the first few were made with 2 line and then someone in a managerial position looks at it and says, "make it 3 lines". If only one was made as a 2 line, then you have it.
Sometimes there is no documentation.
kj

[thefarside]

I have owned a few of these over the years. None had a sheath like that, and all of the sheaths had the Marbles button on the keeper strap.
Jim

[1967redrider]

Mine is a little long in the tooth, but the sheath is a 3 liner. Dunathan only mentions a 3 liner in his book, but Marble's sheaths are notorious for having many variants.

[Tab]

Thanks for all the responses, they have been very helpful. So far the consensus is that it is a variant and is original with this knife even with the differences including stamping and snap on the sheath. I will also note there are a few other differences including upper portion of the sheath on the face along the edge from where the guard sits to the top are slightly rounded where Marbles that I have seen are straighter, depth of the Belt loop slots are not as long and don't extend to where the guard sits.

[kootenay joe]

Knives and sheaths were made to be sold to people who would use them. The manufacturers were not trying to get every little detail exactly the same on every knife and every sheath. No matter what brand you collect there are always 'oddities', knives that are not exactly the same as others of the same pattern. Maybe when "Fred" made sheaths he did them a little different from "George". They were made by people, not laser guided instruments that could turn out exactly the same thing every time.
Sure there are fakes 'out there' but with most the differences are fairly obvious. You are going too deep into minor variations that are the norm with knives.
kj

[Tab]

Thanks Joe for getting me back to reality in recognizing the possibilities of differences in design from the same era/company. My goal in all of my collections is authenticity and just wanted to perform due diligence to make sure that this sheath was original to this knife. With this said, my next goal is to get the second generation Buster Brown knife with the 3 line sheath in good to excellent condition to display with this one.