A Kmart Collectible Knife?
Having a collectible knife associated with Kmart seems like an oxymoron. Hard to believe that you could have walked into a Kmart in the 70's and bought a knife for around $10 that was made in Seki, Japan by Ichiro Hattori. It happened. Now it would cost a lot more. There is also one on e-bay for $299 right now. Ichiro Hattori made Sharp 440 FIX BLADE 8" KNIFE & SHEATH MODEL 1000S "Sharp" was a U.S. Importer of knives in the late 1970s to 1980s period. They offered a number of Seki made fixed blades but one that is noteworthy is the Sharp Model 1000s. These were often sold through K-Mart. 8" OAL, 3.5" Hollow ground blade of 440 steel (many Hattori's were later discovered to use AUS-8 steel) AUS-8 is a good stainless steel knife material, favored by SOG knives. Hattori later issued this knife as the H-109 Drop Point Hunter, with a 3 1/2″ Aus-8 blade, Nickel Silver Bolster and rivets, rounded and shaped grained Mahogany handle with brass lanyard