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 For the first time, knife collectors and historians have access to a knowledge bank of knife photos and descriptions, historical documents, catalogs and articles related to these legendary cornerstones of the American cutlery industry.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 The Daniels Family, last owners of the company have graciously donated all related historical documents from the old Queen website.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 the very rare Queen Smoked Pearl folding knives. 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.

Queen Cutlery’s elusive Smoked Pearl pocketknives are in the Spotlight this month. Ask an experienced knife collector what he or she considers the “holy grail” of knives and you might hear about any number of things like an original Remington Bullet Knife, a rare Bowie or a William Scagel handmade creation. Queen knife collectors may also have varying opinions on the subject. Chances are good, though, they will mention the very rare, very beautiful smoked pearl knives.

Over many decades Queen Cutlery, like many of their competitors, made several knife patterns with mother of pearl handles. These are made with cut and polished pieces of abalone shell. In the old days these pearl knives tended to be considered “gentleman’s knives”. They were usually smaller patterns with delicate handles and not the sort of thing to be carried by hunters, trappers, fishermen and farmers.

At some point in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s Queen upped the ante. They introduced their very distinctive smoked pearl handled knives. Only six patterns were offered in smoked pearl. They were numbers 4, 6, 14, 54, 57 and 59. The handles are truly beautiful! Depending upon the light, they take on hues such as smoky gray, salmon, blue and silver and the workmanship is first rate.

We would like very much to be precise as to the era during which smoked pearl knives were made but we’ve found almost no documentation. They don’t appear in any Queen catalogs (and we have all of them from 1946 onwards on this website). The only document we’ve seen is a supplement to the 1968 price list which says there are now two qualities of Mother of Pearl, clear white and smoked. It also alludes to a shortage of material and a rise in cost. Wholesale prices for smoked pearl are about 20 percent lower than the white pearl prices. This raises an interesting

question which may never be answered: was smoked pearl made as a means of hiding imperfections in clear white pearl? Since there was a shortage and prices had risen at a time when the knife industry was having difficulties due to foreign competition and decreasing demand, this may have been the case.

A poll of the Queen Cutlery History team confirmed that none of us had ever seen or owned a smoked pearl which had a tang stamp. All of them do, however, have etched master blades. According to our well-researched tang stamp guide, this indicates the knives were made during the 1961 to 1971 era.

Though documentation is lacking, we do have are some nice examples of the knives and the recollections of Fred Sampson, now retired master cutler. Fred is truly a gentleman and he has been very generous in sharing his insights and memories from his long career. He started working at Queen in 1948 and was promoted to master cutler in 1976. About 20 years ago this writer was curious about the smoked pearl knives. At that time Fred recalled they were made from the late 1950’s through to the late 1960’s and several thousand of each pattern were made. My understanding was that production stopped when the man who made them died and nobody else was able to produce them.

More recently the QCH team sat down with Fred for an interview in the top floor production area of the Queen factory in Titusville. The intent was to produce a video of the interview but it was a very hot  

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.