Schrade Cut Co Fishtail Bone Prototype switchblade

Here's a really COOL old switchblade! Schrade Cut Co, later Schrade Walden, never to my knowledge produced their fishtail switchblades with bone scales. Most were celluloid, or plastic. I got this knife in Walden, NY when I visited there many years ago from someone who's grandfather worked at Schrade in the 1920s and 30s. He told me that his grandfather got the knife from the research & development department of Schrade when he worked there. I'm confident that this is an actual prototype that was made for consideration of using bone scales on the fishtail model sometime before 1916. There are several clues that support this including the blade having early patent dates of 1906, 1907 and 1910. I don't think I've ever seen another Schrade Fishtail blade with these early patent dates. Most, if not all were stamped with dates of '09, '10 and '16. The bone is roughly "picked" by hand (with a tool) as they did with their earliest bone from before 1916. The spring is weak, but the blade will open fully. Safety works.

Here's your chance to own a True One-of-a-kind piece of American switchblade history! The blade is full and I don't believe it was ever brought to factory finish. It has patina and some light pitting and shows parallel sanding lines on both sides that would have been polished out if the blade had been finished. It will be featured in my next book and comes with a laminated Certificate of Authenticity.