Vintage 3 Blade Frontier Imperial 4434 Pocket Knife
Item History & Price
Manufactured in 1975, this premium quality 3 blade Stockmantype knife measures 4 inches closed and features solid nickel silver bolstersand shields, indestructible Delrin handles in Gunpowder black, solid brasslinings and alloy cutlery steel.Schrade Knives began in 1904 as the Schrade CutleryCompany, founded in Walden, New York. Schrade Cutlery Company produced cutleryof a quality that was unheard of at the time, the company grew andultimately expanded its operations. Another knif...e-making company, the Imperial Knife Company, was founded in Providence, Rhode Island in 1906.The Imperial Knife Company manufactured a full range of value-priced foldingpocket knives.In 1941, Albert M. Baer purchased the Ulster Knife Company, merging it with the Imperial Knife Company to form the Imperial KnifeAssociated Companies. Later, in 1946, Schrade Cutlery was sold to ImperialKnife Associated Companies, and the conglomerate was renamed to Schrade-WaldenCutlery Co., Inc.After the 1973 name change from Schrade-Walden Cutlery Co toSchrade USA, there were many old open stock knives dropped from Schradesproduction and new tooling was installed at the Schrade plant in Ellington N.Y.The old tooling for the discontinued Shrade models were sent to the ImperialR.I. plant and started producing the Frontier knives and other higher qualityknives than in previous years. Many Schrade blade patterns are found in Imperial knives produced between 1975 and 1985. When the 2 companies finally merged at theEllington plant, the better knives like the Frontier series were discontinued.
