Hen and Rooster age identification

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or25624
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jun 15, 2017 9:59 pm

Hen and Rooster age identification

Post by or25624 »

Hen & Rooster Tang Stamps.jpg
20170615_180424.jpg
20170616_224959.jpg
Not sure where I got this article, could have been here, but don't know.
I bought this knife on ebay, its a H&R canoe. I'm trying to figure out the age of the knife because both the blades are different from a couple of H&R canoes I've bought over the past few years.They are a different shape, seem more finely machined and don't have half stop on the main blade like my other ones do. The birds in the picture fourth from the left seem like a match, but the feet are spaced apart different, the tail on mine is shorter, and back bird has no wing. Any help would be nice, thanks.
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basser5
Posts: 2965
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 2:05 pm
Location: Illinois

Re: Hen and Rooster age identification

Post by basser5 »

The stamps in the link are inaccurate.
Your knife is a post 1980 knife imported by Jim Frost and made by either Boker or Robt. Klaas.
My name is Tim and i'm a stagoholic.
or25624
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jun 15, 2017 9:59 pm

Re: Hen and Rooster age identification

Post by or25624 »

basser5 wrote:The stamps in the link are inaccurate.
Your knife is a post 1980 knife imported by Jim Frost and made by either Boker or Robt. Klaas.
Thanks, I was starting to think it was more possible that the picture could be wrong than the stamp. And that would probably explain why the parts are different on the ebay knife, even noticed the bolsters are a bit longer and the body is slightly shorter. It's become one of my favorites, I have way too many and still want more.
20170615_114418-1.jpg
kootenay joe
Posts: 13373
Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2016 5:36 pm
Location: West Kootenays, B.C.

Re: Hen and Rooster age identification

Post by kootenay joe »

Hen & Rooster knives from 1864-1979 were made by a small cutlery business "C. Bertram". These were hand built pocket knives using techniques passed on from previous generation cutlers. It closed down in 1980 & the trademarks were purchased by an American businessman and as stated above the knives became regular mass produced production knives. The name changed from "Bertram" to "Bertram Cutlery".
To a purist, no Hen & Rooster knife has been made since the original manufacturer closed in early 1980.
kj
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