Vintage Swinguards

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jim d,
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Re: Vintage Swinguards

Post by jim d, »

Chris51P,

I have a Medici style which is the identical twin of yours except the stamp is just the letters "AKC" over "ITALY" which I bought in late 2003. I was laid off in Oct 2003 and remember celebrating my layoff by buying that knife and a few others :D

Jim
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JulesVane
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Re: Vintage Swinguards

Post by JulesVane »

jim d, wrote: Sat Jul 25, 2020 10:57 pm Chris51P,

I have a Medici style which is the identical twin of yours except the stamp is just the letters "AKC" over "ITALY" which I bought in late 2003. I was laid off in Oct 2003 and remember celebrating my layoff by buying that knife and a few others :D

Jim
Ahh, so AKC has been around since around that time? Seems like just last year, Angelo had told me he created AKC 15 years ago, so...sure that fits.
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"By accepting you as you are, I do not necessarily abandon all hope of your improving"- My Wife (1963-Present)
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Jackalope
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Re: Vintage Swinguards

Post by Jackalope »

Beautiful set you have and congrats on finding them. They are pretty tough to find.
Here is my vintage set in progress. I have had the opportunity to buy a 6 1/4" stag but I'm holding out for a horn model to match my set.
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I have an 11" beautiful stag AKC. I don't have the year they stated but I know it's before 2005.
AKC-1.jpg
AKC-1.jpg (75.05 KiB) Viewed 2786 times
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JulesVane
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Re: Vintage Swinguards

Post by JulesVane »

Beautiful set Jeff, and that 11" horn model above is REALLY nice! Am I that far off from when AKC became a company? Wouldn't be the first (or last) time lol. In fact, I never even knew AKC made an 11" swinguard...geez.
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"By accepting you as you are, I do not necessarily abandon all hope of your improving"- My Wife (1963-Present)
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Chris51P
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Re: Vintage Swinguards

Post by Chris51P »

Hey Jackalope... Looks like I sold your twin back in May of 2018. Wish I had that one back. Mine was an 11" stag AKC also. Sold it on eBay before someone tried to get it taken off. By the way, you vintage swinguards are very, very nice. Most excellent!
AKC - eBay 5-29-18.png
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Chris51P
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Re: Vintage Swinguards

Post by Chris51P »

jim d, wrote: Sat Jul 25, 2020 10:57 pm Chris51P,

I have a Medici style which is the identical twin of yours except the stamp is just the letters "AKC" over "ITALY" which I bought in late 2003. I was laid off in Oct 2003 and remember celebrating my layoff by buying that knife and a few others :D

Jim
Hey Jim - It may be that the Campolin family had been making these for the German market for quite some time. Just a guess, as our tang stamps are different.
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JulesVane
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Re: Vintage Swinguards

Post by JulesVane »

I tell 'ya guys..the 2 AKC 11" swinguards are quite a learning experience for me. I had always thought the modern swingers were: Frank B made the 11", AKC made the 9", and A.G.A. Campolin/Renzo Pascotto made the 13". (Though, currently, Angelo is marking the 9" A.G.A. Campolin). Like it was some Maniago cutler "rule" between the 2 families. But...there they are, 2 AKC 11" swinguards! I had no idea.
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"By accepting you as you are, I do not necessarily abandon all hope of your improving"- My Wife (1963-Present)
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JimBrown257
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Re: Vintage Swinguards

Post by JimBrown257 »

I don't think I have ever seen an 11" swinger with an AKC stamp before.

And there is one other size of vintage swinger, at least technically. There is the 9" with the German blade, which makes it about 8.25".
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JulesVane
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Re: Vintage Swinguards

Post by JulesVane »

That's neat Jeremy. A size I hadn't even considered. As far as AKC goes, according to the A.G.A. Campolin History page, if 1999 was just the "beginnings" of AKC, I'd say the very early 2000's were pretty accurate for Angelo Jr. to get the business going.

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Jackalope
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Re: Vintage Swinguards

Post by Jackalope »

Chris51P wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:08 am Hey Jackalope... Looks like I sold your twin back in May of 2018. Wish I had that one back. Mine was an 11" stag AKC also. Sold it on eBay before someone tried to get it taken off. By the way, you vintage swinguards are very, very nice. Most excellent!
AKC - eBay 5-29-18.png
Hey Chris. Your old AKC stag was very close to mine. My blade is a dagger style where yours was the bayonet style. I found that the quality of the AKC is slightly better than the Frank Beltrame 11's.
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Jackalope
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Re: Vintage Swinguards

Post by Jackalope »

The German market blades can really skew a set collector. :?
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Chris51P
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Re: Vintage Swinguards

Post by Chris51P »

I will agree w/you Jackalope on the knife differences. Although, Beltrame limited picklocks are very sweet. I’m always on the lookout for those. Let me know if you come across any of those that you don’t have an interest in.
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Jackalope
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Re: Vintage Swinguards

Post by Jackalope »

Here is a red handled one I just sold. It measured 8 1/8" open.
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This is a dagger blade Armondo Beltrame that I sold a while back.
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And finally a page of patent drawings.
swingguard_patent.jpg
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Jackalope
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Re: Vintage Swinguards

Post by Jackalope »

Chris51P wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 12:24 pm I will agree w/you Jackalope on the knife differences. Although, Beltrame limited picklocks are very sweet. I’m always on the lookout for those. Let me know if you come across any of those that you don’t have an interest in.
Here is a beautiful 11" Frank B. picklock that I have owned for years.
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Chris51P
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Re: Vintage Swinguards

Post by Chris51P »

That's a great looking Frank B picklock, Jackalope. Excellent horn. Here's the only one I have. It's a 2007 limited edition 9'' w/stag scales. Got it at a local knife show around 2010 or so.
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