Don, these are really impressive. Huge thick guard, Moore sheaths, x-large leather spacers, relatively vertical tear-drop shaped flutes with large individual tines, tear-drop shaped flutes on the coolie cap... plus the oblong escutcheon plate. That is a
very early Bowie and 13-12, I would guess probably first year of manufacture... Beautiful.
Note that even before the production of the King Fiasel II set, Randall had gone away from using the thick leather spacers which were apparently only used for a short time at the very beginning of Bowie production. I'll post your pictures in a larger format this evening. Good eye.
What is odd is that the guard does not have the extension lugs braised on the ends. I've never seen that. There really hasn't been much published about Randall Bowies and most of what is known has been passed down. The best book that pictorially covers Randall Bowies that I've found is Hunts
Randall Military Models, good pictures and information. Gaddis does a pretty thorough job in recounting the initial design and production of the Bowies.
"Dating a Randall Bowie" might be the only chat line I've seen that dealt with Bowies much, and it was mostly concerned with coolie caps and collars. Still some good things were posted there from solid collectors who generally do not participate on line.
http://knifenetwork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=63508
Some additional information especially pictures of historic Bowies were posted in this line.
http://knifenetwork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61540
Regards, Jack Williams