Emerson's first logo or stamp
on knives was "Emerson Knives" surrounding the outline of a Bowie knife,
accordingly this is referred to as the rare "Bowie Logo", appearing on only a
very small number of knives. When a knife collector asked Emerson if he made
Bowie knives, Emerson informed him that he did not. The collector then advised
him to change his logo or he might confuse the knife-buying public, as they
would ask for Bowie knives instead of linerlock folders. Emerson agreed with
this assessment, dropping the knife outline and the word "knives" from his
stamp, using just his name in a half-circle on the blade as a logo. This marking
is known among collectors as the "Half-Moon Logo" and would appear again as a
transitional mark between the Viper and Specwar lines of knives.
BOWIE LOGO
With the introduction of
the Viper line of tactical knives a new logo was created. This is the rare Viper
Logo. While all early Vipers were stamped with the Viper Logo, Ernie eventually
went to placing the Half-Moon Logo on them. The last Viper logo knives were
created in apprximately 1990. During this time non-Viper models were still
stamped with the Half-Moon Logo
VIPER LOGO AND
HALF-MOON LOGO VIPERS
The Half-Moon Logo lasted up to around 1994. At that
time the orignal SPECWAR Logo was created, and while minor changes have occured
over the years, it has stayed Ernie's custom logo, with a small period of
Diamond Logo blades. Some Specwar Logo blades had dates in the logo. (Between
1999 and 2002)
99 SPECWAR LOGO
2000 SPECWAR LOGO
PRE-FACTORY SPECWAR LOGO
The Diamond Logo was
introduce in the beginning of 2004. During that year Ernie broke the logo die
and decided to go back to the Specwar Logo. If you find a knife with a diamond
you can be pretty sure it is from 2004 as he broke it before the end of the
year.
DIAMOND
LOGO
The EKI Logo was
introduced when Ernie started making production knives. It is the one logo he
uses to mark his production line. The first knives to be marked with the
production logo were the 1997 Ravens.
EKI PRODUCTION LOGO
EKI PRODUCTION
LOGO
DOUBLE STAMPED LOGO
HALFMOON/SPECWAR
Here's a photos
of the Emerson CQC6 with a titanium blade that was sold at the N.Y. show in
1998.
Apparently the previous owner didn't notice the double stamp as it is
not readily visible and the blade has to
be held at a angle to see the
covered up Half Moon Logo to the right of the Specwar logo.
I've never remembered to ask Ernie about the double stamp when
I've seen him at shows and don't
know the actual story as to how this
happened. At the same show several other knives were mismarked
and I believe
I remember that Ernie mentioned that he sent his knives out to someone to put
the logos
on them and that a mistake was made by the person who logo'ed his
knives.
SNIPER308
Per Ernest
The Blades were made well before they were taken to the New York
Show.
The Halfmoon logos were done in house with an Electro Etcher system.
When he went to apply the
logos to the Bead Blasted Titanium, it came out a
crappy looking "Rainbow" colored and the blades were put on a shelf.
Time passes
While looking for stuff to take to the show,
Ernest finds the blades and sends them out to be Bead Blasted clean and re
logoed.
In this case, Lasered with the Specwar logo.The blades come back
just in time to be assembled as knives and thrown into a suitcase for the
trip.
He says that he never noticed the light halfmoon logoing until it was
pointed out at the show by someone.
John Hollister
There have been many other
logos used in special cases and these will be added at a future time.
These will include collaboration knives ECA
knives, and odd
variations.
