Here is a picture of Randall 11's with an Acorn Nut and a Flat Nut from the mid to late 50's

I wish they still made a grind like that Aluminum handled knife! Love that blade profile!!

These two blades are just about as old as you can go with a Randall Made. They are the original model-1s circa 1943. These are the knives that made Randall Made famous. The longer knife is 7-3/4" and the shorter is 6-3/8.

They were both given as parting gifts by Dr. George Waddel Harmon to his son, Infantry Captain George Wallace Harmon and his son-in-law, Army Air Corp Lieutenant Francis T. Bradly as they departed for the European theater in WWII. (Captain Harmon got the longer blade).

I just acquired an older Model 12-6 "Little Bear". I hope someone can tell me an approximate time frame it was made. I don't have the sheath that came with it. I noticed the butt cap appears to be pinned which may help to date it. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I am not an expert on older Randall's.

Here are two photos:

I'd put the three thick, two thin spacer stack in the early 70's.

It's a beauty!
[

Jim

My dating "guess" is late 1950's to early 1970's based on the spacers, which I feel are burgundy, 3 thick, 2 thin.
I can not help you with the pinned butt cap. Don't recall seeing one before and I can't find any info in my notes.

You are correct Rod, except pre-72 ivory would have had 7 spacers. Only leather and some of the small field knives were 5 spacers.

Rod....sent you an email....call me.

Jim,
Another possibility, especially with a knife this clean and lacking a like-condition sheath, is the possibilty of it being a "Leschorn" project. It has the appearnce of an early Leschorn to me. Tom was allowed to receive finished blanks from the shop and handle them himself. Quite often they were lacking a sheath. Tom loved to use pinned butt caps.
Just sayin', Capt. Chris
PS: Many early Randalls that Tom assembled were not signed with his traditional "L"...CCS

Thanks to all for the help. The name plate has the initials R.H.W. - does that ring a bell with anyone?

According to one source, pinned pommels were very short lived in late 1970-mid '71. They were an experiment to do away with the outside tang nut. Shortly thereafter, late '71 or so, the shop reportedly transitioned to the inverted tang nut to secure the pommel, and continued that method... even today. If the source is accurate, your knife may be relatively uncommon (not many pinned pommels were made), and definitely dated to about 1971.

Furthermore, the "7 spacer rule" does not apparently apply to Bowies ... even little bears (?). Few if any Bowies ever had 7 spacers. Note: I've only seen a picture of one other pinned pommel Randall. One was for sale on E-Bay a few months ago...

(Edit-add): Re: Bowies and spacers. I put a question mark after the comment about little bears above because I didn't know if they were assembled in the separate Bowie facility, thus were treated as another "real" Bowie.

After some extensive searching, I found a couple of what appear to be 1960s looking "Little Bear Bowies" with the 7-spacer configuration, one handled with micarta and one with what looks like walnut... no ivory handles however. This would seem to indicate that at least early on, the Little Bears were assembled as per the non-Bowie knives.

The Little Bear was apparently introduced about 1966-67. It hasn't received much attention in the standard reference books nor are there many early examples pictured in discussions. I'm going to keep an open mind about the Little Bears ... could be an interesting research project - did they have 7-spacers? what handles? and when did they quit using that arrangement.)