The Model 11 in the photo is mid 60's at the earliest up thru the early 70's or so. Not even close to "pre-production".

The family member must have misunderstood whomever they got the information from.

The knife his son made looks like a Marbles

David
The Eland horn handle is straight grained. Looking at photos it looks like on older animals the horn is twisted at the bottom and straightens out towards the tip. the center balance point of the knife is just behind the hilt.

Dennis

Looking back through the communications with the family member the original posting does need some clarification. I see the point you are making.

A better summary of the discussion:
Both Model 11's belong to one of the brothers who also made the knife on the right while visiting the shop when he was a young kid. They were not intending to claim that the knife on the left was an early pre-production.

Here is the exact wording from the family member's response:
"A Model 11 and one of the original preproduction prototypes of the Alaskan Skinner. 1952"

My mistake - Sorry for the confusion.

what happened to this thread??

:-)Rocky

I am still confused. I only see one model 11 in the photo. The knife to the right you said was made by Thompson's son, and does not resemble a model 11 at all. Like I said previously, it looks like a Marble's.

The knife the son made also looks nothing like the drawings Thompson submitted to Bo. I don' think you are making a mistake, it sounds like the family is uncertain of what they have. The knife on the right certainly does not appear to be a prototype or pre-production model 1, particularly if the son made it.

Here are the two drawings from Thompson to Bo (taken from gaddis) in chronological order, for the knife design from Thompson.