Good work Sam... but that is not the first or only. There has been an occasional odd ball... as one would expect. These exceptions do help make the rule.
In May, 2013, when Ron transposed our original thesis from this board
(The Magic Randall line, now on second page) to the other forum, Gary Clinton reviewed the data and did a quick check of his collection. He then posted that he was on board with the discovery of the markers and timing for Heiser and Johnson sheaths with brown buttons and Randall stamp. BUT he posted one anomaly. Here it is along with his comments.
"...Now here is the problem. There is always one bad apple in the batch. This knife is obviously an oddball and there is nothing concrete about some guy writing his name and date on the back of the sheath. But the problem is it has the snap in the center of the sheath with the R for Randall on the bottom ( Johnson)
This is the only one like this I have so I would say it's 50 to 1." [my note: that is, 50 of his brown button sheaths fit the id, against one that is an anomaly]
Here is a link to that discussion including Gary's comments and pictures (which are on page 11).
http://www.knifetalkforums.com/ubbth...=109301&page=9
Here is Gary Clinton's posted statement after reviewing the data.. see link above:
"From what I see and hear from these last posts I'm on board with this new theory. Sure there may be some exceptions and I'm convinced something must have happened at Heiser for the quality to dip towards the end of their sheath making era. It fits nicely with Gary Randall meeting Johnson in 1962 and it also does not suggest another sheath maker had a major role during this time. Thanks for the posts and I enjoyed this very much.
Gary"
I think the "grand unification theory" is now almost completely accepted across the collecting hobby. Even Joe is apparently using the ID markers for dating and identification, though he has not publically acknowledged it. In my opinion it is so widely accepted that we don't need to keep beating the horse... he is drinking the water.
Note: nice pommel cap on Gary's knife...