[Jacknola]

Going through many of the books that have extensive published pictures of dated knives, I think I can sharpen the date the stamp change occurred. It now appears that use of the new stamp began in early 1966.

The only kicker? ... many of the pictures in books that positively date a knife/sheath do not footnote how the date was determined. As a result, I usally look for documented knives, few though they may be.

Thanks for the kind words. Despite the voluminous postings, my contributions represent relatively modest amount of focused research, mostly simple compiling and description, which is basic to any system. I've been a little surprised to find how little of this had been done in the world of Randall collecting... and there is a LOT more that can be done.

Some of the stuff about sheaths just evolved as a result of conversation, especially with Ron who is actually the god-father of the brown button solution. The stamp issue here grew out of comments and posts about the flood of fake Randalls.

Collectors of anything tend to be a conservative group, with high regard for ... their own expertise. Taking on a long-held belief requires patience.. but usually truth wins out.

In the world of oriental rug collecting, the intellectual battles over the use of camel wool in persian rugs was pretty epic. A huge number of important collectors, authors, commentators including camel-wool industry personnel, absolutely believed it was common, and many collector-quality rugs were sold with that description. Bunk! It all was circular scholorship ... and mostly a myth, throughout history! That fact has become pretty much accepted and you now see the description "camel ground" instead of "camel wool", "ground" being shorthand for color.

But I had more credibility and time in that field than this one.

Regards.