Queen Cutlery History is a comprehensive, informative resource for anyone interested in Queen City Cutlery Company and its successor, Queen Cutlery Company. In addition the website features information on the related companies, Schatt & Morgan and the Dollar Knife Company. For the first time, knife collectors and historians have access to a knowledge bank of knife photos and descriptions, historical documents, catalogs and articles related to these legendary cornerstones of the American cutlery industry. Our only focus is on knives made in the USA.

In 2018, having produced high quality cutlery using traditional methods for 96 years, Queen Cutlery closed its doors for good. The curators of this website, David Clark, Linda and Fred Fisher and Bob Welch, had previously served as the Queen Cutlery Historical Committee and are now joined by Carl Bradshaw. We are supported in this effort by knowledgeable Queen and Schatt & Morgan collectors from across the USA. The Daniels Family, last owners of the company have graciously donated all related historical documents from the old Queen website. We are grateful to Jan Carter, of iknifecollector.com for contributing the web domain.

⇒ See just below for a NEW Historical Knife Spotlight article on Queen knives with Rogers bone handles. Previous Spotlight articles can be found in the Spotlight Archive. The entire collection of 2020’s Historical Knife Spotlights are now available in articles for you to check out and download. 

⇒ All new Collector Questions & Comments appear here on the home page.

⇒ The Tang Stamp Guide has been updated yet again, to version 9 (October, 2023) – and now contains details on 101 stamps and markings! The guide also includes a supplement with the stamps used on hatchets, razors and scissors. Additionally, the earlier supplement on Dollar Knives, Robeson and Tuna Valley knives is also included. We welcome your questions, comments and suggestions. Contact us here.

We focus the Spotlight on Queen’s use of Rogers Bone knife handles, also referred to as scales. Any collector of Queen knives knows that Winterbottom Bone has long been their so-called signature handle material. In our Historical Knife Spotlight of May, 2021, we pointed out that Queen placed their first Winterbottom Bone order in 1930. Through the 1920’s and up to the very early 1960’s, Queen also purchased bone handles from the Rogers Manufacturing Co. of Rockfall, CT.

Founded in 1891, Rogers started making knife handles sometime around 1900. At first the bone was sourced domestically but within a couple of decades it came predominantly from Argentina. Rogers Bone has its own distinctive appearance. On Queen City or Queen Cutlery knives it was almost always dyed brown. A custom jigging machine, developed by Rogers, created a seemingly random pattern of unique short jigs or cuts in the bone. This machine, or a previous iteration of it, was in service at least by the time of World War I and was retired in 1962.

One of the earliest examples of Rogers Bone handles on a Queen knife can be seen in this photo of a 3” swell center Queen City knife dating from 1922 or not long thereafter. Note the random angles of the jigged cuts.

Another early knife, this 3 3/4” bareheaded jack, exhibits a more uniform orientation to the jigging pattern. This knife was likely made around 1933, not long after Queen 

City acquired the assets of the bankrupt Schatt & Morgan cutlery in a Sheriff’s auction. Note the S&M tang stamp on the pen blade. It’s possible the Rogers bone handles also came from the Schatt & Morgan inventory.

These photos of the # 11 slim trapper with Crown & Dots tang stamp and the # 9 Big Q stockman both depict examples of post

World War II Queen knives equipped with Rogers Bone. Note how the brown dye penetrates deeply into the jigs, rendering them darker than the smooth bone at either end.

We mentioned that Rogers had stopped using their special jigging machine in 1962. The reason for this was economic. By the late 1950’s several factors converged to drive a transition from bone to plastic handles on some pocketknives. Rogers response to this was to pioneer the use of molded Delrin plastic handles. Queen Cutlery was an early innovator with this material and their initial offerings featured

The most comprehensive and extensively researched guide to Queen and Schatt & Morgan tang stamps and blade markings ever published has just gotten better! Version 9 (October, 2023) of the guide is now a 19 page document which displays over 100 distinct tang and blade markings used by the cutleries over a span of 126 years. Two supplements have been integrated into the Guide. One covers hatchets, razors and scissors. The other details additional brands made by Queen, Dollar Knives, Robeson and Tuna Valley. 

This Guide was created by our editors and a group of collectors following the 2018 closure of Queen Cutlery. Markings on knives in their various collections, both tang stamps and blade etches, were photographed, in color and (with few exceptions) are included here. 

In addition to the photos, an illustration of the stamp or etch marking is included . This is followed by a description and an accurately estimated time span during which that marking was used.

 To view and download, just click the adjacent image.