Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Steve Scheuerman (Manx) on June 24, 2020 at 21:16

The Texas bowie's were a limited run of what was to be limited to just 500 knives. I have been told that only about half of the 500 were actually made.  So I asked Jason Stewart, son of Mike Stewart former BlackJack CEO if he could kindly provide us collectors with any information about the knives. Jason had this to say " I remember working on those when I was in high school.
That would have made it fall of '91 and spring of '92. 

    The blades were purchased from the National Historic foundation for a series of knives
that they never made. They were carbon steel there were indeed 500 made. As a matter
of fact, there were more blades than that...consecutively numbered, that never became
complete knives.

    The blades were numbered "#001 of 500", etc. However, because marking lasers are
computerized, some blades were marked 501, 502, 503, etc. These were never finished
and set aside or ground in to something else."
 

    Jason also told me that there was no real inspiration for the knife. Though I have since learned that The National Historic foundation, had planned to offer reproductions, of an interesting old bowie knife, that may have been  made, by Rose in New York, in the 1840s

 Below are two pictures of examples of the Texas Bowie. I felt the best one to show was 001 which is marked as a prototype. The knife is not from my collection but belongs to an unknown and lucky fellow collector. The third and last picture is  of number 155.

 

    The final production versions are not marked on this side of the blade thought this prototype was.

MSRP: $324.95.00 Current Value:$300.00

 

 

 

 

    Recently I have learned that some unused blades etc. were used for a small batch of Ek marked bowies. Though I don't generally cover Ek knives on the site I am including the examples of the Ek bowie below since both knives are based on the same blade and have begun to appear in collector circles. I am told there were just 25 of these made. According to recent information these were made in Michigan by Mike Stewart out of leftover components well after the original BlackJack companies demise. Some of the knives had Ebony handles such as the example pictured below. I am not sure at this time what other handle materials were used. The Ebony handled version had a nickel silver guard, and used brass pins on the handle. This particular piece is from the collection of Joe Dennard who was kind enough to let me use these pictures on the site.

 

 

                                      

                                                                                                             

    Here are two examples which have recently been brought to my attention.  These both sport ivory handles and spear point blades.  One has a coffin shaped handle just as the final production version of the Texas Bowie did. The other has a rounded handle. The markings indicate to me that the knives were made in Effingham in the mid 1990`s.  Most probably they were made using some components that were left over from the Texas Bowies.  I am not sure if the company was considering reintroducing the Texas Bowie with these updates or if this was just a design exercise.

photo courtesy of  O. J. Faust

 

 

photo courtesy of  O. J. Faust

Unfortunately, I can't get photos to load in this. I actually copied the Blackjack Info Pages and converted them into a Word document.

Permalink Reply by Steve Scheuerman (Manx) on June 24, 2020 at 21:17

...as for a good home, this would fit in very well with my other Blackjacks, depending on your price. :)

Permalink Reply by Steve Scheuerman (Manx) on June 24, 2020 at 21:20

Permalink Reply by Steve Scheuerman (Manx) on June 24, 2020 at 21:23

No sheath and no box are going to seriously hurt the resale for collector value.

Permalink Reply by paul burke on June 25, 2020 at 5:58

Steve, 

Thanks for the very fast reply! This is one of only a few factory knives my dad had. He left me with a collection of hand made knives likely valued at about 80K. His collection is mainly drop point hunters. He was a member of the American Bladesmith Society and the Chesapeake Bay Knife Makers Guild. He was not a maker, they were honorary as he did a great deal of pro bono work for them. I have been pheasant hunting with the late Bill Moran and with Jay Hendrickson! 

I have never found a leather sheath. It was stored in a nylon sheath that I am quite sure is not original.

Will speak to the siblings this weekend and then plan to sell on this web site. I will be glad to let you know prior to listing or sale, to provide first chance as you were kind enough to provide the information!

V/R

paul

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on June 29, 2020 at 9:35

What a fantastic discussion this is! I learned a great deal and appreciate the info!