The buck stops here

[knife-nut]

I was looking on facebook at a post from a friend. It is about old phrases and how they came about. This one I'm don't quite believe. PASSING THE BUCK/THE BUCK STOPS HERE
> Most men in the early
> west carried a jack knife made by the Buck knife company.
> When playing poker
> it as common to place one of these Buck knives in front of
> the dealer so that
> everyone knew who he was. When it was time for a new
> dealer the deck of cards
> and the knife were given to the new dealer. If this person
> didn't want to deal
> he would "pass the buck" to the next player. If
> that player accepted then "the
> buck stopped there".
> I don't remember any old buck knives from around that era. Can anyone shed any light on this for me. Mark.

[knife7knut]

There are at least two listings for Buck knives of that era.Peter E.Buck & Sons from Ashland PA that was a hardware manufacturer/wholesaler circa 1863 and Buck Brothers from Worcester MA starting around 1853.
The first one I'm not familiar with;I got the name from BRL's 3rd edition.Buck Brothers was profiled in Phil Panckewicz' book on New England cutlery.I believe they mostly made bowie style knives but there could have been pocket knives produced by them.

[philco]

Check this out.............


http://www.trumanlibrary.org/buckstop.htm

or


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_passing

[Mumbleypeg]

In his book A Hog On Ice (& Other Curious Expressions) by Charles E. Funk, the author says "the buck stops here" derives from "to pass the buck". He says there is no doubt these expressions came from poker and came into use around the time of the Civil War, although the earliest known record of it comes from the author Mark Twain in 1872. The "buck" was some sort of object passed from player to player to remind players where the next deal would fall. He goes on to say that although a later practice was to use a pocket knife for the purpose, leading to speculation that the term "buck" may have derived from the knives' buckhorn handles, the poker players at the time the phrase originated were miners, lumberjacks, etc. who typically carried hunting knives, not pocket knives. Only later did poker become a gentleman's game. The author concludes by saying the exact origin is a mystery but more than likely the "buck" was either a small bag of buckshot or possibly a buck tail, often carried as a talisman at the time.

Ken

[btrwtr]

Obviously not Buck pocketknives that we know of today since they started out in the mid 40's. Great posting Mark and some good detective work Phil and Ken!

Wayne

[Paladin]

The author concludes by saying the exact origin is a mystery but more than likely the "buck" was either a small bag of buckshot or possibly a buck tail, often carried as a talisman at the time.

Ken

In our moon games, the buck was a buckeye and it always marked the player who shook the rocks (dominoes) last.

Ray