Holy batman.!!! ... we've
got to see pictures. I can post them for you if you e-mail them to me...Or you can open a free account on photo bucket, upload them there and post the link. Your amazing story is akin to finding a Daytona Cobra in a country barn. I'm not sure which bowie you are referring to in this line however.
Re: ivory, ivorite and/or alternative Ivory. The catalogs of 1969 call Delrin "Ivorite." That is the first mention of the material in a catalog that I've found. (don't have the '68 but no mention of "ivorite" in '67). In the 1969 catalog there is an outright declaration of disgust with Ivory as a material and a declaration it would no longer be offered. Obviously that wasn't strictly followed because many ivory handled knives were made thereafter. I'll post the catalog references later.
"Alternative Ivory" was apparently a term applied decades (?) later to a different material. I've heard that knives with this material were blade stamped with A/I ... but I've never seen one. This "alternative ivory" was apparently offered simultaneously with a micarta product that was also called "ivorite." This ivorite was of course NOT Delriin.
So, it seems as if the term "ivorite" was applied to three different products at different times. Delrin in the late '60s-early '70s, a micarta material from '90s-2010 or so, and the newer phenolic resin material today. So I suspect your information might be good stuff and that the term "ivorite" was not used until the '69 catalog (see below).
