This is gonna be long but I'm gonna give it a shot. However, there are several possible answers and it's doubtful that we'll ever know the exacts. There are no records that are available from Randall or NASA, I have asked both.
Perry, that statement declaring "not likely" for reasons... is tailor made to drive me to drink. What reasons?
Funny and I understand the question.
There are at least two knives with identical sheaths from this period, Salvo’s and Grissom’s. Either they are from the original <30> or they are not. I really don’t care if the sheath was made by Sadaam Hussain… but to me, what is important is the provenance of the Salvo knife-sheath combo.
The personal knives sent to the Astronauts were forged, had the Randall logo, and furnished with sheaths. The NASA orders were Solingen blades with the "Randall Made Orlando Florida" etch and no sheaths were ordered.
Was Mr. Stockman and friend and associate of Mr. Randall or not?
Friend...who knows? Associate...yes.
• Either Stockman was a skilled craftsman or he was not.
Not in my opinion. All Stockman sheaths I've seen (around 35) were curde compared to Heiser's (1,500+), Moore's (around 200), and Johnson's (3,000+).
Did some Astronauts visit and thank Mr. Stockman for his sheaths? Either they did, (and the sheaths were nice), or someone is lying.
No documentation...
For that matter, given Mr. Randall’s attention to detail, I wonder why he would ship crude and misshapen sheaths to the US Astronauts on short notice.
No, I don't think he would. The sheaths shown in the photographs were of very good quality. Not to mention I've never seen or heard of a Stockman Model "C" sheath.
What was the time window for these sheaths with the cross-wise stamp, compared to the known provenance of the original knives? Obviously at least two knives have comparable sheaths so “sheath-later” rather than “sheath-delivered-with-kinfe” seems less likely.
All speculation on the dates (my opinion)
Other questions: How many knives, total, presumably similar to Salvo-Grissom, were delivered to NASA? Documentation? There is a lot of contradiction (see below), even in this line. Were or were these not delivered with sheaths? If delivered with sheaths, what characteristics to they exhibit that disqualify the sheaths as “Stockman?” It seems to me that the only thing that disqualifies them is a set of assumptions about what a “Stockman sheath” looked like. Is there hard evidence or is it all speculation and circumstantial?
I'm still getting numbers wrong from memory so this is from the book. The first group of knives was ordered by Cooper (to be separate from NASA orders) were:
all forged
Randall logo
with sheaths
10 knives total (again, not associated with NASA orders below)
7 with Astronauts names on them
2 without names
1 "Doctor" knife
These knives were not any of the NASA knives later ordered
Later NASA orders are as follows:
Solingen blades
No sheaths on any P.O.
"Randall Made Orlando Florida" etched
1. 20 knives (P.O. date 24 June 1960)
2. 25 knives (P.O. date 01 June 1962, verbal via phone)
3. 15 knives (P.O. date 23 October 1962)
ALL NUMBERS AND DATES FROM GADDIS
Some or all (exact numbers unknown) were Rhodium plated. It is rather easy to reconize because it looks similar to chrome plating. Rhodium also is a two coat finish, bottom copper plating and top coat is Rhodium. I've only seen two and both were Rhodium.
To be continued...I'm tired!
Previous Topic
Index
