All About Pocket Knives

As you can see in the pic's this one is stamped 291. The front tang stamp looks real. The other oddity is the brass shield. Might be a lunch box special...Thought I'd see what the experts say.

291 was not a catalog number.
It may have been an SFO for a jobber or another company.

I have seen newer non-catalog patterns. Earlier this year I sold a Schrade 893 which I purchased in an 895 box. If you note the box in the picture it is a bit different than other Schrade boxes. I was told there were some patterns made for SMKW that were non-catalog; the 893 is one example of the those. Perhaps your 291 was a trial pattern that didn’t fly after a limited number were made or it may have been ordered by a company, jobber or hardware supplier that wanted a unique pattern to offer to their customers.

I would be interested to know the closed length of that knife to determine if it was slightly different than other trapper patterns.

Another Schrade mystery.

Maybe someone else will have more info than I do.

The closed length of the knife is 3 7/8"
Other than the shield and the 291 I can see no difference from a 293

Model 291 does show up once - On a 1964 price list - It's handwritten near the top of the list
http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us/ ... CELIST.pdf
No additional info on length, blade config, etc.

Howie

Well, if it is a one year, one knife sort of thing then it will be safe amongest all the other trappers in my display.
There are 5 Tennessee river trappers,one with faded etching
2 Old timer classics, one minus the etching
2 schrade walden cigar box trappers, one minus the shield
1 rope jigged blue bone trapper,minus the shieeld and etch
1 Schrade 293
1 Schrade 285uh, with both blade marked stainless
1 Schrade Walden 293
1 schrade Walden 291?
1 Schrade Walden 285, with both blades marked stainless
1 Schrade 294
1 NKCA trapper
All in an 18" x 24" display

HowieAreyu wrote:Model 291 does show up once - On a 1964 price list - It's handwritten near the top of the list
http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us/ ... CELIST.pdf
No additional info on length, blade config, etc.

Howie

Thanks alot...sure wish I could buy at those prices.

Hi dweb --

I've always had pocket knives growing up and even then leaned towards Schrade
About 5 years ago I decided I'd collect some
Well, 'collect some' was out the window quickly

The detailed info presented in the forums and on the http://www.collectors-of-schrades-r.us/ site set me on the Schrade path So much detailed info, pics, catalogs that has been thankfully made available to us all

Oddities and short run knives continue to surface like the 291 trapper

Your trapper collection is very well presented Congrats!!

-- Howie

That price list has always been very interesting to me!

There seem to be several items on that 1964 price list that are ad knives or special runs for specific distributors or jobbers. It almost appears that they were trying to clear out some overruns of certain patterns.
The 58OT appears 4 times on that list; at the very top of the page in a 34OT box, on the right side above the table of numbers & prices under the Liberty Wholesalers name, on the lower right under the Brown & Williamson name and on the lower left by the name Crestfield.

Maher & Grosh was a mail order company that bought a lot of knives from Schrade over the years.

It appears to me that Schrade Walden was cleaning the warehouse of factory overruns or of ad knives & SFO not purchased by the company that ordered them.

After looking at the 1964 price list referenced, I am more convinced that my first statement was correct:

orvet wrote:291 was not a catalog number.
It may have been an SFO for a jobber or another company.

The 291 is not a catalog number for Schrade Walden; even though someone at sometime wrote it in by hand (probably a salesman), it never appears in print in any of the other known Schrade price lists or in any known Schrade catalog.

The listings of all the other jobber, distributor, SFO & ad knives tends to make me think that the 291 may have been a SFO or a short run for a distributor, jobber or hardware supplier who changed their mind on the pattern.

I may be wrong, I have been before, but based on the information we have here, that would be my best guess as to the origin of the 291.

Thanks to all of you for your input, I thought it might just be something put together from old parts...but that doesn't explain the 291 Stamp.