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Queens of the past

One of the things that I notice missing is photos and discussions on the older Queens.

I thought maybe I could start a discussion on them and show a few pictures of some of

the Queens that I have collected over the years.

But First I will explain why I decided to collect Queen.

My parents were brought up in the Tylertown, Mississippi area and moved to Vicksburg in the

mid 50's. Because family and friends still resided in Tylertown we would occasionally go for a short

visit.

One day before we left Tylertown to head home my father said he had to stop at the hardware

store for something. When re returned to the car my mother asked him what he had gotten and he

pulled out a brand new Queen Steel #9A stockman. When I saw that knife I thought that the

yellow/amber handles were the prettiest thing I had ever seen. I asked to look at it and was rewared

by them letting me hold the closed knife in my hands for just a minute with the cautionary warning "be

careful".

After that time I was a Queen fan, even though I wasn't but about 5 years old it didn't matter, I was

hooked for life. Over the years when my father stopped for his knife they didn't always have the #9A

in stock and he would have to settle for just the standard #9 with the fake winterbottom bone

handles, but he always bought Queen. The reason he had to wait and buy one in Tylertown was that

Vicksburghad no Queen dealer, in later years this changed.

So for the first of the Queens of the Past is a #9a

6 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Rome D. Rushing on February 26, 2014 at 7:58

Here is a group of #9's

A standard #9 with fake Winterbottom Bone scales.

This is a #9R in Red delrin.

And this is a #9B in black delrin.

Permalink Reply by Rome D. Rushing on February 26, 2014 at 8:05

Here we go with a few more #9 style Queens

This one has burnt bone scales.

This one has jigged bone delrin.

In a red ice color.

A brownbone in winterbottom bone style.

And the last one.

A Col. Coon made by Queen.

In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Robert Burris on February 26, 2014 at 8:13

Those are nice Queen knives. What is the difference between a #9, a #9a, #9b and a #9r ?

Permalink Reply by Bill Fletcher on February 26, 2014 at 8:16

Rome , your brief discussion of Queen Cutlery and how you came to prefer them was enjoyable as were the cool stockman pics. Each in his own comes to favorites. I think that these journeys are core to the collectors psyche. Thank you for posting.

Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on February 26, 2014 at 9:10

That is the truth, I sure do enjoy knowing how a collector comes to be and how someone becomes a collector of a certain brand or pattern? Fascinating isn't it? I also love the pictures of vintage knives, of a time gone by. Maybe it's just me, but can't you just feel the excitement, surprise and joy seeing each new Queen as it showed up in stores for you to buy. There was always that sense of anticipation, of anxiousness that was filled by a purchase of a new Queen.

Permalink Reply by Carl Bradshaw on February 26, 2014 at 10:12

Great idea! I started my Queen fascination because my grandfather was National Sales Manager for Queen in the 70's and early 80's. He has quite a number of unique Queen knives produced during those years, and he had some very rare limited runs made, with my name etched into the blade on the ones he gave me. Very cool, I'll post pictures sometime when I get the camera out.

Permalink Reply by Howard P Reynolds on February 26, 2014 at 11:38

I agree, it is great to hear how someone got started liking a particular brand of knife.

Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on February 26, 2014 at 16:08

Great story Rome

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on February 26, 2014 at 16:34

Rome,

I LOVE this! Knowing how you came to collecting Queens is an awesome story. Not only do I like seeing all the different handles but look at the array of shields!

Permalink Reply by Rome D. Rushing on February 26, 2014 at 18:26

Queen listed the handle color on a #9A as Amber so that is where the A comes from. The only difference is in the handle colors.

B is black, R is red and the standard #9 was either real or fake Winterbottom Bone or Winterbottom bone with orange/red highlights. This pattern was the standard 4 inch stockman and can be compared to the Case 347 pattern (6347,5347,3347, etc.)

Hope this helps.

Rome

Robert Burris said: