Pocket knife

[sexobon]

:-))) Supposedly, the bee was stylized and so unpopular that the design itself was the reason the French started referring to it as the Laguiole "fly"; until, the design was later made more natural looking. At least that's a story I've heard at national knife collectors shows since I started attending them back in the '80s. I haven't researched it myself as it isn't an area of interest for me. It does remind me of when Mexico changed its national emblem of the eagle with serpent on a cactus to a stylized design on its coinage in the '70s. Some there were calling it treason.

The same knife is probably sold in numerous countries. The bee symbol is widely recognized; so, they need only change the less expensive packaging rather than the manufactured design to have appeal in each marketplace. It could very well be though that the image styling on the package (fanged snakes being a repeated theme in this marketplace) was influenced by the style of the image on the knife.