Keeping the Leschorn theme going; I think that Tom Leschorn elevated the art of knife collecting to a whole new planet.

The controversy of how many knives did he embellish continues. I do not recall who said the following- "Beaucant wrote an article in Knives Illustrated after Mr. Leschorn passed in the fall of 1992. In that article he stated "At this time about 218 Randall Knives have been decorated with the art of Tom Leschorn, including knives engraved and carved for Randall's business, knives which were subsequently sold to their customers".

I have followed many auctions and have been luckiest at the Blade Show in my quest for TWL embellished knives.

There were a pair of 12-11 Smithsonian's Brass Hardware-I have one. Ivory handle with Johnson tight-stitched Roughback Sheath.

I have an early Tom Leschorn 3-6 double hilt Kit Knife with brass hardware with an Ebony handle along with two carved Ivory inlays; Dall Sheep on one side and a big Brown Bear chomping down on a Salmon on the other. The Maurice Johnson smooth back sheath is hand tooled and refinished black by TWL with period correct white stone.

The TWL Full Tang Mastadon Scales Drop Point was tooled by TWL but the engraving was done TWL style by Skaggs after TWL passed.

In my opinion the Holy Grail of knife collecting is TWL's Seven Continent Set. Greatest set of knives I have ever seen.

Tom Flynn