Blackjack Becker Divtul XL

The Divtul XL is just what I've been calling this, it's by no means the legit name. I wasn't sure these even existed until about a year ago. A fellow Beckerhead found one on eBay and posted a photo. That photo is super small and terrible quality. Luckily I've found the old listing on Worthpoint.

Here are the photos.

Now if you know your Becker history (you do if you've been reading this blog) you know that there were many shapes and sizes of the Divtul/Tactul from the Cincinnati days, but they are rare. I have never seen a physical Divtul/Tactul Cincinnati Blade. It used to be only the old ad photos and drawings until I was incredibly lucky to have Ethan show me the old snap shots of them in his office that are now in the Cincinnati page HERE. So from Blackjack the only Divtul/ResQ we ever saw in the catalogs and ads was the smaller version in both chrome and non-reflective finish. Check out some of those ads HERE.

So the question is if this larger version was the ResQ and the smaller version was the Divtul? I don't think so and here is why: The old ads, catalogs, and price/order sheets all call it by the singular name "ResQ/Divtul." Yes they did sell them in two categories, them being reflective (Chrome S.S.) and non-reflective (sandblasted). There was never a shred of evidence that there was a larger version. So my guess would be this was a ResQ/Divtul 2.0 or something? Or that they only made a small amount before Blackjack went under. This is just my theory, however it does seem to line up with the story from the auction listing below.

Here are the screen shots from the auction description. I don't know if this is the real story, but this is the only information anywhere online about this larger version. I personally don't know if I believe the production numbers, take everything with a grain of salt.

Here is just an excerpt from a Blackjack catalog the seller included in the listing.

So cool, right? Well: yes and no. 

As a collector finding a new blade that you didn't know existed (and have only ever seen one of in years of looking) and missing the auction, it's like getting kicked in the nuts. I know the guy who won it and he is one of only a few people with a collection like mine. Overall I'm glad it's with another Beckerhead. 

Now that auction was a long time ago, if we fast forward to now I have just recently acquired a Divtul XL of my own.

Check out this beauty!

However, this blade brings both good and bad tidings. I am so happy to have this to add to my collection, but as you can seen this XL is in the chrome finish and not the sandblasted non-reflective finish like the one above. What does this mean for me? Well it means I still have one more to find... great.