C12 Civilian

Various C12 Civilians and Matriarchs

The Civilian is a knife with special qualities. It’s a collectors dream with all it’s variations, different steels, etc. Originally developed for self-defence the civilian is both beautiful with it’s Reverse "S" Blade and very useful if you have self-defence needs but no or little formal training. The C12 SKU is shared with it's little FRN Brother the Matriarch, which is also dealt with in this article.

Appearance in catalogs

The Civilian appears in the 2000/2001/2002/2003/2004 catalogs (both PDR and dealer catalogs). The Matriarch appears in both the 2002 and 2003 catalogs.

These are the Spyderco Product Guides that feature the C12 Civilian and Matriarch, that can be viewed online at the Spyderco.com website:

• 2006 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2007 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2008 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2009 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2010 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2011 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2012 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2013 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2014 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2015 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2016 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2017 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2018 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2019 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2020 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2021 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2022 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2023 Spyderco Product Guide
• 2024 Spyderco Product Guide

Designer

Sal Glesser

History, mentionings from the forums etc.

A little info from Sal on Numbers of CF Civilians from the Spyderco- forum:

There is a change in the quantity of CF Civvies being made. From 500 to 1200. We learned when ordering began that 500 would not be enough. If 100 (half) collectors order all variations (4), that's 80% of the run. After Spyderco crew, there would not be any available for anyone else. I do not believe that this change will affect the long term value of the piece. Thank you for your kind understanding to this change sal

A thread about the Matriarch on the Spyderco forums

Oddities:

• Phil Gibbs was supplied some blades from Spyderco of which he made a few custom double bladed Civilians. These pop up from time to time.

In a post on BladeForums.com, referenced on the Spyderco.com forum, from 14 September 2002, Sal Glesser shares some information on the design history of the Matriarch: The Matriarch was in fact designed to be used by women in South Africa, with training by Bruce Wentzel. He specifically designed his defensive art and tool to go together. We made them primarily for for Spyderco's South African Distributor. Once we had them in production, there were requests from U.S. law enforcement professionals to make them available here, which we have done.

Information from the Spyderco catalog on the web

"In the 1990s Spyderco was approached by a specialized branch of U.S. law enforcement about making a knife for their undercover agents. These plain-clothes LEOs found themselves in situations where they often could not carry a firearm but carrying a knife was not a problem. Most had no formal training in self-defense tactics or MBC but as a last resort could use a blade to protect or extricate themselves from a life-threatening situation. This was how the Civilian model came to be. The Civilian has a patented reverse "S" blade that's intended to be used like an oversized claw. The tip is ground to an ultra-thin profile. Deeply curved and full at the belly, the VG-10 hollow-ground blade excels in slicing and is available fully SpyderEdged. Because of its distinctly specialized features it is not intended or designed for general utility or everyday use. Curved in all the right places for ergonomic use and retention of the knife, the handle is black G-10. Mounted for tip-down carry with a custom curved black clip, the knife rides deeply and unobtrusively in a pocket. One of the most specialized CLIPITS in the Spyderco line-up, the Civilian is available in limited quantities."

Variations

The Spyderco C12 Civilian and Matriarch is a Spyderco that has been made in several variations. The carbon fiber handled Civilian appears in many forms with pouch or box, numbered and unnumbered. In addition, there's also a slight difference in how the handles are put together on the CF variants. Some are all screw construction and some are partially screwed and pinned. It has not been possible to figure out why that is or where the change occurred. There seems to be no system to which is what. These are not listed as variants in the list here due to that.

All variations are made Seki City, Japan and have

• a Back Lock,
• and a Reverse "S" Blade.

Variations of the Civilian

SKU	Handle	Edge	Steel	From/To	MSRP	Note	Number made	Grind	Clip	Clip positions	Collectors club
C12S	Original first civilian in untreated aluminum with Kraton inlay	SE	GIN-1/G-2		N/A	N/A	N/A	Hollow grind	Kraton Civilian clip		Main?
C12TUFS	Tufram coated aluminum with Kraton inlay	SE	GIN-1/G-2		184,95 us $ (1994)	Aluminum handle is 6062-T6 aluminum	N/A	Hollow grind	Kraton Civilian clip
C12TUFS	Tufram coated aluminum with Kraton inlay	SE	ATS-55		N/A	N/A	N/A	Hollow grind	Kraton Civilian clip
C12TUFP	Tufram coated aluminum with Kraton inlay	PE	GIN-1/G-2		229,95$	N/A	N/A	Hollow grind	Kraton Civilian clip
C12GS	Black G-10	SE	GIN-1/G-2		N/A	No stainless steel liner	N/A	Hollow grind	3- screw old standard clip
C12GS	Black G-10	SE	ATS-55		214,95$	Made both with and without single stainless steel liner	N/A	Hollow grind	Half- moon clip
C12GP	Black G-10	PE	ATS-55		N/A	Extremely limited Japan only	less than 100	Hollow grind	Half- moon clip
C12CFP	Black smooth glossy CF	PE	ATS-55	2001	$229.95 (2001)	Right handed.	~540	Hollow grind	Black Half- moon clip	RH, TD/TU	Variant
C12LCFP/C12CFPL	Black smooth glossy CF	PE	ATS-55	2001	$229.95 (2001)	Left handed.	~60	Hollow grind	Black Half- moon clip	LH, TD/TU	Variant
C12CFS	Black smooth glossy CF	SE	ATS-55	2001	$229.95 (2001)	Right handed.	~540	Hollow grind	Black Half- moon clip	RH, TD/TU	Variant
C12CFSL	Black smooth glossy CF	SE	ATS-55	2001	$229.95 (2001)	Left handed.	~60	Hollow grind	Black Half- moon clip	LH, TD/TU	Variant
C12GS	Black G-10	SE	VG-10	late 2002-	$269.95 (2009), $320.00 (2019)	New tip design with thicker grind for added strength. Single stainless steel liner.	N/A	Hollow grind	Black Half- moon clip

Variations of the Matriarch

The Matriarch was initially made by request from the South African importer as a small, light and affordable knife for women for self-defence. It is slightly smaller than the Civilian. The demand grew so strong in the US that there was a sprint run of grey Matriarch's before it came into regular production for the US market as well due to growing demand. The Matriarch was brought back in 2012, utilizing the newer Endura 4 handle design.

SKU	Handle	Edge	Steel	From/To	MSRP	Note	Number made	Grind	Clip	Clip positions	Collectors club
C12SBK	Black FRN	SE	ATS-55		N/A	Original South African distributors model, no Boye dent.	N/A	N/A	Barrel bolt clip	LH/RH	Main
C12SGY	Grey FRN	SE	ATS-55	2000	N/A	Bladeforums Sprintrun (300 produced for them).	500	N/A	Barrel bolt clip	LH/RH	Variant
C12SBK	Black FRN	SE	ATS-55	2000	N/A	Boye dent . Available for U.S. LEO/Military members only.	N/A	N/A	Barrel bolt clip	LH/RH	N/A
C12SBK	Black FRN	SE	VG-10	2001	N/A	Regular run for the U.S.	N/A	N/A	Barrel bolt clip	LH/RH	Variant
C12PBN	Brown FRN	PE	VG-10	2010	99.95$ (2010)	Sprintrun, boye dent.	600	Full Flat	Barrel bolt clip	LH/RH	Variant
C12SBN	Brown FRN	SE	VG-10	2010	99.95$ (2010)	Sprintrun, boye dent.	600	Full Flat	Barrel bolt clip	LH/RH	Variant

Variations of the Matriarch 2

• 2nd generation Matriarch uses the Endura 4 handle

SKU	Handle	Edge	Steel	From/To	MSRP	Note	Number made	Grind	Clip	Clip positions	Collectors club
C12SBK2	Black FRN	SE	VG-10	2012-	129.95$ (2012)			Hollow	Black 4-way Hourglass	LH/RHTD/TU	Main
C12BBK2W	Black FRN	SE	Black TiCN coated VG-10	Mar. 2015-	1649.95$ (2015)	Emerson wave. Black titanium carbonitide (TiCN) coated hardware.		Hollow	Black 4-way Hourglass	LH/RHTD/TU	Variant

Most collectible variation

The C12S in bare aluminum or the C12GP in G10 are the two variations believed to be most collectible Civilians. The Carbon fiber Civilians are of course collectors items as well.

The C12SGY grey FRN Matriarch is the one believed to be the most collectible Matriarch, although there might be few of the ATS-55 Black matriarch in circulation as well.

Questions regarding collecting the C12

Some interesting questions we are looking for an answer to:

• Was there ever a G10 Civilian with the gin-1 steel and Boye dent?
• Was there ever a G10 Civilian with the ATS-55 steel without Boye dent?
• Who designed the Civilian?
• How many made of the different knives?
• The carbon fiber Civilian came in full screw construction as well as pinned with a pivot screw and lockbar screw. When did the changeover happen?

Questions with an answer:

• Was there ever a Matriarch in Grey FRN with the VG-10 steel? No!
• Was there ever a Matriarch with the ATS-55 steel with Boye dent? Yes!

Technical information

Typical measurements (mm and grams) of the C12 Civilian:

Length overall	Length closed	Length edge	Hole Ø	Blade thickness	Weight
233	132	105	12	3	134

Typical measurements (Inches and ounces) of the C12 Civilian:

Length overall	Length closed	Length edge	Hole Ø	Blade thickness	Weight
9 3/16"	5 3/16"	3 3/4"	15/32"	1/8"	4,5 oz.

Pictures

Some of the different C12 Civilians, in order of appearance: C12S,C12TUFP,C12TUFS, C12TUFS, C12GS,C12GS,C12GS, C12CFRHP (Unnumbered in box)

Two of the 3 known variations of the C12 Matriarch

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