Observations on the Victorinox Battle Series Collection 1983-1991

[basilio]

A quick search on the forum gave me many results about the Victorinox Swiss Alliances and Battle Series.
However, I did not find many threads discussing the complete Battle Series Collection that, according to the sakwiki, was released on 1991 as the same time of the last kinfe of the series, the Oath of Rutli 1291.
As I recently bought the complete collection, I want to share few observations I made, but I will not post pictures for every knife as there are already plenty of them on the forum and the web itself.
First of all I have to say that I was looking for the complete collection display wooden box, instead of the single boxes, as I knew (web research) that all the knives were going to have the same serial number (mine have serial n. 9156), plus I really like the collector display.

Interesting to note is that every single serialized certificate of authenticity (7 in total) and the small brochures (again 7) with  the description of the event, are all located on the back side of the display.

Now comes the interesting part.
In the following image are displayed the first three knives, so from top to bottom, Morgarten, Laupen and Sempach.

As you can see, there are few interesting things to note:
1. Morgarten: there is, actually, a toothpic (!) plus the Reamer/Awl have a Sewing-eye;
2. Laupen: the Reamer/Awl have a Sewing-eye
3. Sempach: the Reamer/Awl have a Sewing-eye
If you now take a look at the sakwiki, you will see that:
Morgarten was not supposed to have a toothpic or the sewing eye in the reamer;
Laupen  was, indeed,supposed to have the sewing eye in the reamer (but I found a picture of at least one knife without it http://www.bulforums.com/metalblade/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=3034&start=227&st=0&sk=t&sd=a)
Sempach was not supposed to have the sewing eye in the reamer.
I did not post pictures of the other knives, as I didn’t see any difference with the single editions.
Since, again according to the sakwiki, the “Sewing Eye was first added to the Reamer in 1985”, I believe that the knives from this collection were all assembled in 1991, using left over scales (with the battle scene in silver inlay) from the previous series, but newer components like the reamer with the sewing eye, introduced later than 1985.
Should I be correct, we could agree that the date etched on the knives (in the above picture 183, 1984 and 1985) is not the date the knife was manufactured but the date the knife was first issued.
What do you think?

[sergemaster]

Amici,
Very interesting, since I've never seen this before. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Serge

[ICanFixThat]

Good Observations,  Thanks!

Unrelated really to your the theory for the changing of the parts on some samples; the date stamped on the liner is certainly the date of the issue that's its purpose. Also represented by the Edition Date shown for each knife in the case.

You are probably right in that not all 9999 knives in each set were assembled at the same time, and some knives ended up with slightly different parts for this reason.

I'll have to check the information on the toothpick for the Morgarten, and the others.  Maybe members here can report if their sample has the toothpick or not.

[Chako]

Well I checked mine. My Sempach, Laupen, and Morgarten do not have the sewing eye. The other 4 in the series do.

Likewise, my Morgarten does have a toothpick.

[basilio]

Thank you all for your answers!

Good Observations,  Thanks!

Unrelated really to your the theory for the changing of the parts on some samples; the date stamped on the liner is certainly the date of the issue that's its purpose. Also represented by the Edition Date shown for each knife in the case.

You are very correct!
I too don't think that Victorinox changed some parts on already assembled knives.
Perhaps, they had the scales stored away.
When Victorinox released this collection in 1991, the scales were used on new knives and the SAK's were assembled using parts already in use for other models (like the reamer with sewing eye).
But that is just a speculation

Well I checked mine. My Sempach, Laupen, and Morgarten do not have the sewing eye. The other 4 in the series do.

Likewise, my Morgarten does have a toothpick.

Wow, thanks.
So we have a different variation of the Morgarten: toothpic but not sewing eye.
Did you buy your knives with the single wood boxes, or in the display case?

[Chako]

Single wooden boxes.

[basilio]

Single wooden boxes.

Nice collection!

[jazzbass]

Since, again according to the sakwiki, the “Sewing Eye was first added to the Reamer in 1985”, I believe that the knives from this collection were all assembled in 1991, using left over scales (with the battle scene in silver inlay) from the previous series, but newer components like the reamer with the sewing eye, introduced later than 1985.

Great observation - I think you're exactly correct. Another thing to check for is the tang stamp on the earlier models - this changed in c. 1986 from the "small V" to the "large V" style. Small V = "VICTORINOX" in letters that are all the same height. Large V = The "V" in Victorinox is larger than the rest of the letters.

Like Chako, I have all of the Battle Series in boxes. My Morgarten is representative of a 1983 vintage knife - no sewing eye, small V, and no toothpick.

[mashguy4077]

Those are awesome. How much did the set cost you?.

[Frankctz]

Very nice collection, also first time a see it..

[Currahee]

Chako,

Is it just the photograph or are the scales on the Sempach and Nafels knives actually lighter, almost a dark shade of gray, compared to the others which appear to be black?

Amazing sets! I had never seen them before, either. Thanks, guys, for sharing them!

[Chako]

Here are some other photos of the series I took a while back. I do have a double here.

[edursr]

Beautiful knifes!!!

Chako, I love your pictures! Which camera do you use? 

Some members post excellent pictures(like chako, victor and stressmaster), I need to improve my skills on sak porn...mines are always blurry and dark...

[Chako]

Those are older, so the Canon S5 IS. These days, I roll with a Canon G12 for small object imagery.

[nuphoria]

Lovely set indeed.

[jcfiguet]

A quick search on the forum gave me many results about the Victorinox Swiss Alliances and Battle Series.
However, I did not find many threads discussing the complete Battle Series Collection that, according to the sakwiki, was released on 1991 as the same time of the last kinfe of the series, the Oath of Rutli 1291.
As I recently bought the complete collection, I want to share few observations I made, but I will not post pictures for every knife as there are already plenty of them on the forum and the web itself.
First of all I have to say that I was looking for the complete collection display wooden box, instead of the single boxes, as I knew (web research) that all the knives were going to have the same serial number (mine have serial n. 9156), plus I really like the collector display.

Interesting to note is that every single serialized certificate of authenticity (7 in total) and the small brochures (again 7) with  the description of the event, are all located on the back side of the display.

Now comes the interesting part.
In the following image are displayed the first three knives, so from top to bottom, Morgarten, Laupen and Sempach.

As you can see, there are few interesting things to note:
1. Morgarten: there is, actually, a toothpic (!) plus the Reamer/Awl have a Sewing-eye;
2. Laupen: the Reamer/Awl have a Sewing-eye
3. Sempach: the Reamer/Awl have a Sewing-eye
If you now take a look at the sakwiki, you will see that:
Morgarten was not supposed to have a toothpic or the sewing eye in the reamer;
Laupen  was, indeed,supposed to have the sewing eye in the reamer (but I found a picture of at least one knife without it http://www.bulforums.com/metalblade/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=3034&start=227&st=0&sk=t&sd=a)
Sempach was not supposed to have the sewing eye in the reamer.
I did not post pictures of the other knives, as I didn’t see any difference with the single editions.
Since, again according to the sakwiki, the “Sewing Eye was first added to the Reamer in 1985”, I believe that the knives from this collection were all assembled in 1991, using left over scales (with the battle scene in silver inlay) from the previous series, but newer components like the reamer with the sewing eye, introduced later than 1985.
Should I be correct, we could agree that the date etched on the knives (in the above picture 183, 1984 and 1985) is not the date the knife was manufactured but the date the knife was first issued.
What do you think?

This serie is wonderfull ! And I would like to bye this serie for my collection... But it's very difficult to find it.
Is any body know the price of this serie and where could I find one ?

[Thunderpants]

Hm, I was looking for something else but I found this, if jcfiguet is still looking.
Cheap! 

http://www.messerland.de/produkte/info/4227/Victorinox-Schlachten-Sammlermesser-8-teilig.html

[Chako]

I got all excited seeing this post as I was thinking this series doesn't get much talk...only to find out its an old thread and I was all over this like a fat kid on a smarty.   

[Reinier]

Hm, I was looking for something else but I found this, if jcfiguet is still looking.
Cheap! 

http://www.messerland.de/produkte/info/4227/Victorinox-Schlachten-Sammlermesser-8-teilig.html

Lagerbestand   -1

I doubt they will ever have those in stock again

[basilio]

I don't think that the price from the above shop is too bad.
It was years ago, but I think I paid my set way more.
SwissBianco was also selling the set in 2010 for $840
http://swissbianco.ca/Newsletter/SwissBianco_NL_2010_2.htm

[Thunderpants]

"Lagerbestand   -1"

 

I though the - was a dead pixel...

[Etherealicer]

I think the artist did a great job with those images, he stylized the important part of every battle brilliantly.

[marduk]

I wonder if the pictures were drawn by Ann-Marie Vollotton Saugy, who did the silhouettes for Wenger's Life series.

[basilio]

I will have a look at the papers with the knives, but I'm not sure if I'll find the artist's name written on them.

[enki_ck]

I'll just add the link to sakwiki for these.

http://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Battle%20Series%20Collection

There are also stories about each of the battles attached as images there.

[burnside]

This series is really cool. I have the Battle of Saint Jakob 1444 (Passenger) on it's way to me from sigsal right now. It was an impulse buy so I'm not sure if I will be keeping it or not (I'm not a collector).

[rmagralha]

Prepare to become one (collector) burnside, you will be in love when you put your hands in this one. 

[burnside]

Prepare to become one (collector) burnside, you will be in love when you put your hands in this one. 

I think you might be right.   

It showed up in the mail this evening, and it looks amazing. The detail in the battle scene is very intricate. There is no box or papers, and the knife definitely has the typical carry scratches on the scales, but the tools look unused, and the blade looks like it has the factory edge.

The artwork on this is definitely

I'll post some pics tomorrow when I have better light to photograph with.

[rmagralha]

Prepare to become one (collector) burnside, you will be in love when you put your hands in this one. 

I think you might be right.   

It showed up in the mail this evening, and it looks amazing. The detail in the battle scene is very intricate. There is no box or papers, and the knife definitely has the typical carry scratches on the scales, but the tools look unused, and the blade looks like it has the factory edge.

The artwork on this is definitely 

I'll post some pics tomorrow when I have better light to photograph with.

 

[burnside]

Some photos of my Battle of St. Jakob 1444 Vic Passenger. The Detail is very intricate in this piece...