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Old 02-15-2017, 02:25 PM
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samg samg is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Matthews NC
Posts: 666
Smoking gun on past Heiser v Johnson sheath debate!!

OK, so I am a little compulsive about stuff Randall, and as many of you know, a couple of years ago there was a raging debate as to whether the early RMK stamped sheaths were made by HH Heiser (at the time HKL) or Maurice Johnson, It was debated over on another collectors site. It was an excellent debate, going back and forth as to who made many of those early Brown button RMK stamped sheaths.

Well, moving to now, I have kept my eyes open since then, be it Google searches, group sites, auctions, and eBay.
I struck gold the other day on eBay and found the holy grail for the proponents of the theory that Johnson made them!!
Without going into the weeds about all the evidence that led us all to believe what constituted whether it was Heiser or Johnson made, for my collecting purposes, if a brown button sheath has a tooled edge ( a ridge left by the sewing machine), center keeper snap, serif model/length numbers on the back of the sheath, and a west facing stamp, it was no doubt Heiser (HKL) made.
If the sheath has a beveled, curved edge, keeper snap on the edge, non serif numbers, or no numbers and has an east facing stamp, it was made by Johnson.
This way of identification has held fast and true for me, without exception....
Until now.
After 2 years of searching, I have found one!



Notice the tooled edge down the outer edge of the sheath, and center snap.



The back



Close-up of the back, with east facing stamp AND serif numbers!!!



This is the only brown button tooled edge, center snap, seirif numbered sheath with a EAST FACING STAMP that I have seen. And yes, it's going in my collection. It came with a knife, a user.
This sheath will be a constant reminder to me that there is always...The exception to the rule.
In hind sight, I'm glad the other camp at the time of our sometimes heated debate, didn't come up with this little jewel, though I know it is HKL made and someone oriented the stamp wrong....Or is it? Could this be one of Johnson's early sheaths that he made, before he came up with the idea to bevel the edge, and though he had serif stamps, decided to quit using number stamps for awhile, then when he took up using number stamps again, began using non serif number stamps. Then he probably decided that the sheaths would look better with the stamp oriented to the east, evolving quickly to what became the now familiar baby dot sheath.
So, does anyone out there have one of these oddballs? I would love to know if there are others out there.
Though there were coarse words back and forth between many of us, in hindsight, I think the Randall community learned a lot from the dabate.
Regards, Samg

Last edited by samg; 08-11-2019 at 02:14 AM.
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