Victoria 91mm date?

[North Man]

Hi

I am glad about this, a 91mm Victoria, i know this stamp is 1968-1974 and there is no +Pat on Can Opener, at first i would say 1970, so i will show some pictures and tell. I found a sticker on this very faint, looked like 3134, hope its correct, this model is also some times called Grand Prix Junior since there is a model with scissors called Grand Prix.
My model has a fine screwdriver, some has a small blade instead, my is similar to the Motorist with St.Christopher inlay.
On the Motorist i was told that the slot for cans on the Phillips got on around 1970, not sure if this reply to this Victoria also? Also the spring design for the blade, i have seen this before 1973, if that reply for this? Then it is the Phillips with nailfile, this is a question for the pro since maybe this has something to do with Victoria line? The Thickness on the blade tang is slightly thicker, i have not seen that many from 1968-1974 so my guess on this knife is 1970-1973, also the metalfile should be a detail here aswell. Still somehow 1970 is maybe, anyhow hope to hear your points.

[North Man]

Pictures

[jazzbass]

First, great knife. It's basically a Victoria branded Motorist. My guess is that it was made right around the time the autombile scales came out, so it got those instead of the St Christopher scales.

Re: dating, you're right this does fall roughly into the 1968-1974 range. Here's what I see:

- The backspring for the blade is just the standard Victoria era backspring. Nothing unique there, except it does indicate a 2.7mm Victoria blade vs. a 2.4mm Officier Suisse blade. You didn't show the stamp on the blade, but I assume it's "Victoria" based on the thread title. Some knives from this era have no rear tang stamp.

- The modern file with nail cleaner indicates a date closer to 1972-1974 end of the date range. Most Victoria knives with files have the older style file, indicating that this newer style file was introduced shortly before the 1974 change.

- The fine screwdriver lasted well into the 1970s, so no good dating info there.

- You are correct in that the Phillips w/ file was all but gone shortly after the 1968 change from bail to key rings and scale material. For MOST knives, but not all. In particular, Fisherman models continued to get the Phillips with file almost up to the 1974 change over to Officier Suisse blades. So unfortunately, this can't be used as a great way of dating the knife across the board.

That said, the inclusion of a Phillips with file with the main metal file is curious, as Victorinox seems to have eliminated a lot of this redundancy by the early 70s. Could be a left-over parts thing or could have been done on purpose - we may never know. Since the appearnce of NEW tools (the metal file) is always the more accurate of dating methods, my best guess would be 1972/3.

Let me know how you'd like payment and I'll send you my address 

[North Man]

Hi

Thank you
Yes, the metalfile was a point i thought would make the knife closer to 1973, i took a picture of the backside of tang, front is the standard VICTORINOX SWITZERLAND STAINLESS ROSTFREI, the tang is 2,7mm. I will have the nailfile Phillips in mind,

[North Man]

I can also put on that i have the same model just Officiers no Victoria with Nickel Silver inlay it is 1978-1980 model, this has no nailfile on Phillips, it has a slot for cans on instead. Also slimmer tang compared to the model in this topic.
This might suggest that the tools or functions was used some time, i mean same as Motorist just with the veteran car inlay

[ICanFixThat]

That's a nice one. Any SAK with that driver is interesting to me.

[North Man]

Thank you, those drivers is good.