No response to above questions... except Don... thanks for checking in Don and that "King Faisel II set" is a beauty... but differs from the original primarily in
the escutcheon plate size and shape. Perhaps someday someone will Goggle and use this line for further research...
I have not found this mentioned in the Randall literature, but
it seems that most or all of the escutcheon plates installed prior to about '60-'61 were ad hoc, oblong, no true uniform shape. Then about 1960-61, the shop seems to have adopted a uniform oval-football (rugby type) shape for the plates ... first silver and then according to Wickersham, about 1965 brass became available
(but was not yet listed in the catalog in 1966).
This may be just an impression not actual fact, but ... my Delrin handled 3-7 has an oval silver escutcheon plate which makes it interesting to see if those type escutcheon plates were being installed in 1960 when it has been projected that the knife was made. So ... here is a chronology of escutcheon plates through the critical years...as best I could locate pictures bracketing that period.
(It is surprising how few escutcheon plates are out there).
Early '50s
Gary Clinton James Jones 1955
1959, second 13-6 ever made. (note: inscription on plate has 1958 date) This dating was fully addressed and documented by Ron Mathews in an excellent treatise on another board.
Zimmerman, Stockman sheath, 1960-1961
2-5 with Heiser-Randall sheath (why this is likely a Heiser-Randall and not a Johnson would require considerable space to prove. So for now, allow me to just declare it), knife dated by several knowledgeable vintage Randall collectors on another board to '59-'60 (but with typically confusing and contradictory opinions because of the Randall stamp on the Heiser sheath)
NOTE: the time span between the above knife and the one pictured below probably covers the change from ad hoc oblong escutcheon plates to standardized oval-rugby football shape
Ron Mathew's knife and description: "very early '60s because of choll cut," ... oval escutcheon plate, Heiser-Randall 'west' stamp on sheath
12-9 Bowie, 1963
Bowie from Wickersham book, early mid-60s
Gary Clinton early mid 60s
1-8 teeth
It looks as if the critical change in the shape of the escutcheon plate occurred just about mid-late 1960, perhaps overlapping into 1961. Therefore, use of the oval plate on the Delrin 3-7 was possibly consistent with a production date in 1960. More data would help, especially pictures of early knives with escutcheon plates. Given that, perhaps the whole thesis would fall apart, which is not a bad thing if it is data driven.
I wonder what else could we look at?
How about the fonts on the escutcheon plates? It sometimes surprises me how little actual methodical cataloging of the characteristics of early Randalls has been done, or at least published.