"As noted by the card, this is a RARE example of Ernie's Pre-factory,. garage day' Prototype making. He made this knife for "test & development" - that means he made about 3 or 4 or them to give to operators to test to destruction, or else for Ernie to use in presentations to potential investors in his planned production company. This one obviously a presentation version, in the never-produced larger size.

Although he sold it to Walter in 1998, it was made earlier than that. True satin, ATS34 blade with proper single bevel grind, completely hand-sanded and shaped handle slabs, thick ti liners relieved on the inside for ease of use, this knife has every bell 'n' whistle of that era! The SpecWar model was expected to be the biggest model that the factory ever came out with, but was so overshadowed by the Commander (which came out at the same time), that it never got traction. A shame, because its a great design.

Bottom-line on this one, it is extremely rare, has a great provenience (Ernie to Wally to your seller, just 2 previous owners), and legitimately occupies an important place in Emerson history."

  --JBravo on the USN, (IMHO) World's Foremost Emerson Expert-- July 22, 2010