Matriarch History Help ?

[Manix Guy 2]

Anyone have a history of the Matriarch and possible picture ? I went to Ted's site it was combined with the Civilian . Was this model G10 or FRN or both at one time ? Grateful for any help . MG2

[swingshot]

^ I think it has only been made in FRN. (?)

[The Deacon]

It shared the same SKU# with the Civilian, but the Matriarch was only ever made in FRN. I suspect it was not given a separate SKU becuase it was not really intended to become a regular part of the lineup. I was made in black and grey (a rather dark grey), both in SE only. It's a bit smaller than the Civilian and shares the same handle used by the "Gen 3" Endura, Spyderhawk and Pacific Salt. If nobody else posts pictures of it, then this afternoon I will try take a few shots of the one I have and post them.

[Peter1960]

I hear a voice calling for pictures :p

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/6034/c12sbkmatriarch105mediufw1.jpg

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/5092/c12sbkmatriarch103mediuhl8.jpg

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/1254/c12sbkmatriarch102mediujp7.jpg

[JD Spydo]

Peter that's interesting that you have a VG-10 version. I had to really jump through some major hoops to land a VG-10 of my own. Of all the Matriarchs that crossed my desk I only ever had one with VG-10 blade steel.

Now don't get me wrong because there is nothing wrong with ATS-55 at all. My EDC has ATS-55 blades on it. But the VG-10 Matriarch was truly a tough find for me.

Also I wonder if anyone has the actual numbers on how many gray Matriarchs that were made?

[D-Roc]

I never had much fondness for ATS-55 myself. One of my 98 Endura's got some shampoo when I was travelling one time, and in addition to landing rust spots, it pitted as well. I now have small black pits everywhere on that knife. I tested my SS Endura with AUS 6 for 3 days in the same shampoo and nothing at all.

[Andre V]

Well i stand to correction on this story, but from what i heard the Matriarch was developed for the South African market.

Mark Yeager who is the South African agent for Spyderco and is a quite good friend of Sal's has been importing :spyder: for many years. He thought a slightly smaller civvie model would do better here. Sal developed the smaller civvie, "the Matriarch" from there.

I am not sure if this is 100% correct but thats what i have been told, maybe its just sales talk from some of the local suppliers. I hope Sal will chip in here and verify this.

[zackerty]

Marc Ager of Ram South Africa.....:)

[Andre V]

Marc Ager of Ram South Africa.....:)

Sorry :confused: :confused: :)

[The Deacon]

Well i stand to correction on this story, but from what i heard the Matriarch was developed for the South African market.

Mark Yeager who is the South African agent for Spyderco and is a quite good friend of Sal's has been importing :spyder: for many years. He thought a slightly smaller civvie model would do better here. Sal developed the smaller civvie, "the Matriarch" from there.

I am not sure if this is 100% correct but thats what i have been told, maybe its just sales talk from some of the local suppliers. I hope Sal will chip in here and verify this.You are correct Andre. Here's an excerpt from a post by Sal back in 2000 regarding them...


The Matriarch was originally produced for So Africa as an exclusive. We are concerned about selling them in the USA so we restrict them (at this time) to Law enforcement professionals (or their friends).

Spyderco doesn't promote either to the general public (only in our dealer catalog).

Neither model is good for general use, (regardless of the opinions of others). The tips are too fine. We are also of the opinon that these models are only effective when sharp (which means no general use).

I've already had one ELU send me an email complaining about the quality of our products because he purchased a Matriarch somewhere, has been using is for general construction use and damaged the tip.

sal

[224477]

Just made me think a Matriarch 4 based on E4 handle would be a nice sprint run ;)

Pink or Orange handles?

[DRod]

There were two on ebay today that I was about to jump on... Right up until I checked my bank account.. :(

[zackerty]

Sorry :confused: :confused: :)

Yes, as The Deacon said...you are correct...
Marc is a friend...just correcting his name for posterity...:)
Sorry if I confused you, Andre'?

[5150]

so what are these things going for now anyway?:confused: