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 For the first time, knife collectors and historians have access to a knowledge bank of knife photos and descriptions, historical documents, catalogs and articles related to these legendary cornerstones of the American cutlery industry.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 knowledgable 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 The Daniels Family, last owners of the company have graciously donated all related historical documents from the old Queen website.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 Schatt & Morgan Heritage Series. Written by our own David Clark, this article covers the series by the man who inspired it and is rich in images. 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.

(click on any image to enlrge it)

by David Clark

Queen Cutlery planned to stop producing the popular Keystone Series of collector pocket knives after its twentieth and final year in 2010. Jennie Moore, sales manager at Queen, mentioned they were looking at ideas for a new series of collector pocket knives. I had come into the possession of two original Schatt & Morgan cutlery catalogs, one from 1903 and the other from 1907. My intention was to reprint these catalogs and make them available to collectors. The catalogs had been in the procession of the Matthews family, part of the original Queen City Cutlery ownership, since circa 1933. Joe and Betty Dial acquired them from Gerald Matthews a few years ago and then passed them on to me.

I approached Queen with the idea of starting a new series of collector knives based on selected patterns from these two vintage catalogs. The catalogs would be included with of the first issue of a planned twenty-year series starting in 2011. These new knives would be marketed as the Schatt & Morgan Heritage Series. Queen accepted the proposal and planned to make the announcement at a news conference at the 2010 Blade Show and have the knife prototypes ready for the 2011 SHOT show.

This is a copy of the first suggested narrative announcement of the Heritage Series:

New Schatt & Morgan Knife Reproduction Series

Series Name: Schatt & Morgan Heritage Series

Narrative Introduction:

John W. Schatt and Charles B. Morgan started their cutlery business in New York City in 1895 as an import company named the New York Cutlery Company. Because the import tariffs of the 1890s made the importation of English and German cutlery expensive and unprofitable,  Schatt and Morgan, like many other cutlery importers, decided to start manufacturing. The partners took over the C. Platts & Sons Cutlery Co. plant in Gowanda, New York, after the Platts Company moved to Eldred, Pennsylvania in 1897.

The New York Cutlery Company prospered in Gowanda, however in 1902 they relocated to a new and larger facility in Titusville, Pennsylvania. The company incorporated in 1902 with the move to Titusville and changed the name from the New York Cutlery Company to Schatt & Morgan Cutlery Company. They began manufacturing in the new factory early in 1903.

In July of 1903 Schatt & Morgan published its first catalog from the Titusville factory. With both Mr. Schatt and Mr. Morgan on

the road selling, business was very good. The company published a larger and more graphically illustrated catalog circa 1907. These two extremely rare catalogs are being republished to initiate this Schatt & Morgan Heritage Series.

Queen Cutlery Company announces this new Schatt & Morgan Heritage Series, taking, from the pages of these two 100-plus year old catalogs, the pocket cutlery of the early years of the 20^th Century. These reproductions will honor these old knives by closely reproducing the patterns, blades, bolsters, liners, handle materials, and finishes as much as we possibly can, including the use of the old, original pattern numbers. Collectors who purchase the complete first set will receive complimentary reproductions of both of the early catalogs.

Proposed Schedule to Launch Program:

• Blade Show 2010 – Officially announce the program with printed literature, ads in Knife World and other publications.
  Also consider making the catalogs available for sale. 
• Using knives from the followings catalog pages (either entire pages or only certain patterns from these pages) I am suggesting the following six-year production schedule.
• January 2011 – Page 34 from Catalog No.1
• Produce 500 each in ebony and bone
• Produce pearl in lots of 20 on special order from a distributor

• July 2011 – Page 85 from Catalog No. 2
• Produce 500 each in rosewood and ebony

• July 2013 – from Page 81, Catalog No. 2
• Produce 500 of each pattern in rosewood

• January 2014 – from page 27, Catalog No. 1
• Produce 500 each in cocoa, ebony and bone

• July 2014 – page 58 from Catalog No. 2
• Produce 500 of each pattern in ebony

• January 2015 – from page 20 Catalog No. 1
• Produce 500 of each pattern in cocoa, ebony and bone as noted

• June 2015 – from page 22 Catalog No. 2
• Produce 500 of each pattern in bone

• January 2016 – Page 26, Catalog No. 1
• Produce 500 of each pattern in cocoa, ebony and bone

This is draft copy from the Knife World editor, for their magazine announcement: 

Queen Announces Schatt and Morgan Heritage Series

(subtitle) Vintage S&M Catalog Reprints Now Available

“Queen Cutlery Company has just announced a new series of collectible knives that will be formally introduced in 2011. The new Schatt and Morgan Heritage Series will replace the Schatt and Morgan Keystone Shield Series, which is set to wrap up after a highly successful twenty-year run.

The Heritage Series, presented as “A 100 Year Legacy Reborn,” was developed by Queen Cutlery in conjunction with noted cutlery collector and historian David Clark, who has contributed to several publications on the history of Schatt & Morgan cutlery and The Dollar Knife Corporation (including Knife World articles and the currently available History of Dollar Knives with David Krauss). Clark, who has also displayed his collection  at various shows in the Eastern U.S., has made some remarkable discoveries in the course of pursuing his historical interests. One of the most recent involved a cache of original company records as well as the personal 1903 Schatt and Morgan catalog of founding partner C.B. Morgan – an edition that was previously unknown to collectors.

Discussions between Queen and Clark led to a very interesting suggestion: why not base the new Schatt and Morgan series directly on the two extant Schatt and Morgan catalogs, from 1903 and circa 1908?

That’s exactly what they’ve decided to do.

Beginning in 2011, the new Schatt and Morgan Heritage Series will offer groups of knives as they were illustrated in these original catalogs, a page at a time – meaning that a page will be chosen from either the 1903 or the c.1908 catalog, and every knife illustrated on that page will be reproduced in that installment of the series. With this approach, Queen Cutlery emphasizes the historical accuracy of the new series and gives collectors the opportunity to study the historic S&M line and anticipate new releases, as well as offering new possibilities for displaying their collections.

To take best advantage of these vintage catalogs, of course, collectors need to be able to obtain them; so Mr. Clark is making reprints of these catalogs available now, months before details of the first series knives will be announced to the public. The 1903 catalog checks in at 54 black and white pages, dressed in a black card stock softcover binding with an early Schatt and Morgan company logo impressed in gold. The c.1908 catalog features 130 semi-color pages with a card stock cover that has the Schatt and 

Morgan logo in red, reproducing the original cover. The two catalogs will be offered together as a package deal for the price of $55.00 plus shipping.

To obtain your own copies of the 1903 and c.1908 Schatt and Morgan catalog reprints, contact David Clark at loisandclarkcutlery.com. For more on Queen’s upcoming Schatt and Morgan Heritage Series, watch this space as more details are announced!”

Queen prepared two flyers for the 2010 Blade Show press conference

Epilogue

Queen produced only two years of the planned twenty-year Heritage Series. In 2011, seven knives, comprised of three different patterns and various handle materials, were produced in the first series.

• Barehead jack, 2-blade
• Barehead jack, 1 spear blade

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.