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Comment by Ken Spielvogel on September 15, 2015 at 18:03

Ron, mine has the letter K

Comment by Ken Spielvogel on September 15, 2015 at 18:02

Great knife Michael, I have one just like it.

Comment by Brad T. on September 15, 2015 at 14:19

Michael, regardless of the provenance, it was a nice gift and one hell of a knife. I have one that my father in law owned, after he passed my bro-n-law gave it to me. Never letting it go.

Comment by Jan Carter on September 14, 2015 at 19:16

Excellent info Ron.  Great knife Michael

Comment by Michael G Keuler on September 14, 2015 at 17:25

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Comment by Ron Cooper on September 14, 2015 at 15:45

Michael,

That knife was made after 1977. The letter under the WESTERN / USA / W49 will tell you exactly what year that was. Western started using the alphabetized date code in 1977 with the letter "A" and going through to the letter "O" in 1991 when Camillus took over and dropped the date code.

Here is one of mine with the letter A"...

These Western Bowie knives were first made in the mid to late 60's. Some say 66 was their first year? Those early Bowies were either guard marked with the word Bowie like this one...

OR they were blade marked with the word Bowie. Others prior to 1977 were guard marked "W49." It can get confusing! Here is a pic of 3 of mine...

The two on the left with the smaller pins are Vietnam era Bowies. The one on the right with the modified guard is a 1977. Here is another pic with some info at the bottom...

Three variants of the Western Cutlery W49 Bowie Knife.

2nd Variant is Blade marked WESTERN / BOWIE / USA is 1966-1974 This variant can also be identified by the small rivets in the handle.

3rd Variant is Guard marked WESTERN BOULDER / COLO. USA on one side and BOWIE on the other is 1974-1977 This variant can also be identified by the small rivets in the handle.

5th Variant is Blade marked WESTERN / USA / W49 on one side, date marked "A" 1977 ~ It can also be identified by the larger rivets in the handle.

All 3 were produced in Boulder, Colorado. In 1978 Western Cutlery moved to Longmont, Colorado. In 1984 they became Coleman/Western and knives were produced under that name until 1991 when the company was sold at auction to Camillus and moved to New York. In 2007 Camillus closed its doors.

Comment by Michael G Keuler on September 14, 2015 at 11:30

A friend of mine gave that to me back in the early 90's. He said he carried it on his ruck in Vietnam. I later found out they didn't make this knife until 1977, hopefully my friend is confused.

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Featured Comment by Charles Sample on September 14, 2015 at 11:20

Nice Bowie!