Most collectible Alox Victorinox Soldier?

[nsa-x-file]

Just looking for a few more in better shape and i'm done.

[yabantas]

The 1970's reds can be a bit tricky as some can be early 60's ones that have been repaired but its always nice to find a good one

here is a 78 I found

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I have the same knife but there is no date stamp on the back of the main blade, is it a odd one? any idea?

[Joe58]

  wow - those are some great pics of some really nice collections.

I'm still trying to track down one of the old models made in the forties from WWII so I can have one in my meager collection. I have a few older alox ones tucked away but nothing like some of you guys.

Impressive! Joe

[ulli]

Sometimes its really difficult to say, what is an original soldier and what is not. I`m 100% sure, that victorinox never produced a run in 1960. There are also some other years, where wenger or victorinox never produced soldiers for the army. So even if there appear hundreds of 1960 stamped soldiers on ebay, its true, that they are not original but fakes.

I`m sure, for collectors its really interesting to proove that there are some ultra rare stamped soldiers and they possess them :-)

I`m also 100% sure, that victorinox or wenger never produced red alox soldiers for the army after 1965.

What I know is that victorinox has a great service. I know from some guys who sent their old fiber soldiers to victorinox for repair. Victorinox replaced the scales, changed broken tools or the blade, and at the end, they put a WK-stamp on the scale, even if there wasn`t any WK-stamp before. You could also wish the blade-scale-combinations. Elsener senior was no collector at all. Around 10 years ago, victorinox didn`t even have a small collection of their own knives. He was a business man, wanted to expand, make good money and one of his goal was to have a great service. So at ibach, they did and still do almost every service for the customers, as long as they pay it. So if you want a 75 red alox soldier, just send them a red and a silver 75 soldier with the wish to change the scales, and I`m sure, they will do that or at least did that in the past. When victorinox produced more year stamped blades than they could sell to the swiss army, they used them for other knives. Why would victorinox produce red alox soldiers for the army later, when they decided in 1965, that the product is not good enough for army issues and the silver alox scales are much more resistant?

For alox soldiers, there are no repair stamps on the scales. So you`ll never know if the blade is original or not. Even the year stamp isn`t always an indicator for the production year. For example, the 2009 soldiers were all produced in 2008.

[enki_ck]

Excellent post, ulli.

[jaydar]

Sometimes its really difficult to say, what is an original soldier and what is not. I`m 100% sure, that victorinox never produced a run in 1960. There are also some other years, where wenger or victorinox never produced soldiers for the army. So even if there appear hundreds of 1960 stamped soldiers on ebay, its true, that they are not original but fakes.

I`m sure, for collectors its really interesting to proove that there are some ultra rare stamped soldiers and they possess them :-)

I`m also 100% sure, that victorinox or wenger never produced red alox soldiers for the army after 1965.

What I know is that victorinox has a great service. I know from some guys who sent their old fiber soldiers to victorinox for repair. Victorinox replaced the scales, changed broken tools or the blade, and at the end, they put a WK-stamp on the scale, even if there wasn`t any WK-stamp before. You could also wish the blade-scale-combinations. Elsener senior was no collector at all. Around 10 years ago, victorinox didn`t even have a small collection of their own knives. He was a business man, wanted to expand, make good money and one of his goal was to have a great service. So at ibach, they did and still do almost every service for the customers, as long as they pay it. So if you want a 75 red alox soldier, just send them a red and a silver 75 soldier with the wish to change the scales, and I`m sure, they will do that or at least did that in the past. When victorinox produced more year stamped blades than they could sell to the swiss army, they used them for other knives. Why would victorinox produce red alox soldiers for the army later, when they decided in 1965, that the product is not good enough for army issues and the silver alox scales are much more resistant?

For alox soldiers, there are no repair stamps on the scales. So you`ll never know if the blade is original or not. Even the year stamp isn`t always an indicator for the production year. For example, the 2009 soldiers were all produced in 2008.

I would agree there are quite a few fakes out there the number of badly etched 58 soldiers I have seen is scary , not so sure about the 1970's reds ... we all see the odd 1980 / 90's red soldier turning up which is clearly an early 1960's with a replaced blade .... but in all the 71 /78's I have seen and the two I currently have the WK stamp is horizontal not vertical and non of my 1960's knifes have this. Maybe in 71 Victorinox thought they had perfected a harder wearing red ... and a limited trial was done.

Having said that my soldier collection turns silver in 66 and I have never been tempted to replace one with an even perfect red.

[dmanuel]

So is there a reference book that I can pick up that will walk me through all of the different Soldiers, production numbers, differences in the models, etc?

[Joe58]

I would agree there are quite a few fakes out there the number of badly etched 58 soldiers I have seen is scary , not so sure about the 1970's reds ... we all see the odd 1980 / 90's red soldier turning up which is clearly an early 1960's with a replaced blade .... but in all the 71 /78's I have seen and the two I currently have the WK stamp is horizontal not vertical and non of my 1960's knifes have this. Maybe in 71 Victorinox thought they had perfected a harder wearing red ... and a limited trial was done.

Having said that my soldier collection turns silver in 66 and I have never been tempted to replace one with an even perfect red.
[/quote]

Just wanted to thank the OP for this thread as I received some pm's from fellow forum members which led to me being able to track down a couple of the old Soldier models I was looking out for. I'll post some pics when they arrive. Wanted to be sure to say that there's a great bunch of fellow collectors here helping each other out. Fantastic.

Jaydar - You aren't making me feel good about your post concerning the 58's.

As my user name indicates - I'm still in search of a 58 but sorry to hear there's fakes out there from that year. That, and using that for my forum name is easy for me to remember. Lol.
If I run across one, I'm going to have to try and get pics on here to help me verify.

Joe

dmanuel - the SAKWIKI has a bunch of great info. And here of course.

[Myron]

Thread necromancy.  I'm bumping up this older thread because a) NSA-X-File's collection is so incredible, and b) I'm wondering if anybody else out there has a complete set of the Model 1961 Soldier SAKs? 

I know the One Man Army thread is still alive and kicking, and there's a lot of good info there, but I don't believe that thread has any complete collections of the Alox Soldiers.  I'm working on mine, but still have quite a few to go.

Anybody else?

Myron

[Rapidray]

That is a great collection for sure! 

[jnoxyd]

Thanks Myron for reminding us of this post! Nice to see this cool collection again 

[Barry Rowland]

What a beautiful collection and great thread!

[Frailer]

Thread necromancy...I'm wondering if anybody else out there has a complete set of the Model 1961 Soldier SAKs? 

I, too, am glad you gave this thread a well-deserved bump.

As to your question...not this guy. While I do have examples of what I consider to be the *major* variants (red, silver, shield and DAK) from milestone years in my life, acquiring a complete set would be—for me—a road to perdition.

I’ll wish you much luck and watch happily from the sidelines. 

[Myron]

I, too, am glad you gave this thread a well-deserved bump.

As to your question...not this guy. While I do have examples of what I consider to be the *major* variants (red, silver, shield and DAK) from milestone years in my life, acquiring a complete set would be—for me—a road to perdition.

I’ll wish you much luck and watch happily from the sidelines. 

Thanks Frailer.  This is exactly how I felt about it for years.  I had accumulated all the years of transition from one evolutionary version to the next, a few meaningful BYSAKs, a couple DAKs, etc. 

I will report back.  When, I don't know, but when it's done I'll let the good folks of MTo know. 

Thanks,

Myron

[Frailer]

I will report back.  When, I don't know, but when it's done I'll let the good folks of MTo know.