Old and Obscure Brands

This forum is dedicated to the discussion and display of old knives. The rich history of all the many companies that made them through the early years will be found here as well as many fine examples of the cutlers art. Share pictures of your old knives and your knowledge here!
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Toejammer
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by Toejammer »

Powr-Kraft Muskrat - never even seen this tang stamp before, but it's built alot like a Camillus.

5329

5330
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paulsvintage
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by paulsvintage »

Found a couple of Griffon cutlery knives and Griffon bill, lots of good knives for sale in the AAPK stores
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trail
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by trail »

My book shows Brighton Cutlery Works Germany circa 1900. I debated with myself for a while exactly what you call this pattern and then decided to defer to Mr. Levine. Here's what he has to say in his book Levine's Guide to Knives and their Values, 2nd Edition - "Some manufacturers called all of their equal end pen knives 'senators' while others limited this name to knives of intermediate proportions. The latter firms called very narrow equal end pen knives 'regular pens." So if Brighton was one of the latter firms my knife would be a regular pen. If not, it would be a senator. I wonder if any manufacturers called their knives "irregular pens?"

As far as the name "Brighton" on a German knife. It is my conjecture that during the interwar period a lot of importers of German knives desperately hoped to convey the impression that they were English. Anything but German...Thankfully those days are past and the Solingen firms can proudly stamp their own names on their knives now.
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trail
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by trail »

Here is an updated list of the 230 knife brands represented in this thread:

A. Reinig
A.A. Fisher
A.E. Fuller
A.J. Jordan
A.W. Flint & Co.
A*1 Tyler Celebrated Cutlery
Abercrombie & Fitch
Adams & Bro
Adams & Sons
Adolph Blaich Arrow Brand
Ahapen Faacidbr (Cyrilic)
Alfred & Son Celebrated Cutlery
Alpha
Ameike
American Knife Co.
American Shear & Knife Co.
Aquila
Argyle Cutlery Co.
Ascend W.T. Stanforth
Automatic Knife Co.
Autopoint
B.B. Knife Co.
Barber Bros.
Bergman & Scuddig
Berkshire Cut. Co.
Bigelow & Dowse
Bower
Brantford Cutlery
Brighton Cutlery Works
Brown Treacy & Co.
Burkinshaw
C.F. Kayser
Camillus
Canastota Knife Co.
Car-Van S.P. Co.
Case
Catskill Knife Co.
Cattaraugus
Challenge
Charles Bradshaw
Chris Wolf
Clark Bros
Clark's XLT
Coca-Cola
Columbia
Commander/Metropolitan Cutlery
Conn. Cutlery
Constant
Cook Bros.
Corliss Cutlery Co.
Corning Knife Company
Cornwall Knife Co.
Crooks Bros.
Crucible Knife Co.
Cussins & Fearn
Dame Smith & Hall
Duane Cutlery
E C Simmons Keen Kutter
E. Renaud
E.B. Sears
E.M. Dickinson
Eagle
Edward K.Tryon
EIG Cutlery
Electric Cut Co
Elgin American Mfg. Co.
Empire
Enterprise Cutlery
Ernst Brückmann
Excelsior Knife Company
F. Herder & Son
F.D. Bast
F.GG & Sawyer
F.J.F Primastahl
Fairmount Cutlery
Fairplay Brothers
Fayban Knife Co.
Fayetteville Knife Co.
Fidelity Knife Co
Fletcher Hardware Co.
Foron
G. Gregory
G.H. Exhibition
G&J Allen Superior Cutlery
Gales & Co
Garantie Germany
Gellman Bros.
George Woodhead
GLP Co.
GML
Golden Rule Cutlery
Gonon
Great Eastern
Griffon Cutlery
H. Boker & Sons
H.& B. Mfg. Co.
H.H. Tammen Lucky Buck
H.W.Mason & Co.
Hammer Brand N Y Knife Co
Hargreaves & Co.
Hartford Cutlery
Harvey Bros
Haynes Stellite
Henderson & Co.
Henry Wilton
Herm. Konejung
Herms
Hollinger
Holly Mfg Co.
HOLMAC
Holub
Hugo Koller
Ideal Cutlery Co
Imperial
J. Dunlap
J. Pritzlaff
J. Ward
J.M. Schmid & Son
Jack Knife Ben
James Milward & Co.
John B. Rand
Jones & Son
Jorcie
Joseph Barnard & Sons
Joseph Gray & Son
Julius Ohliger
K.& B. Cutlery
Kamp Cutlery
King's Kwality
Knickerbocker Cutlery
Kresge
Krusius Bros.
Lamplough Cutlery
Lawton Cutlery
Lenox Cutlery
Lever Cutlery Co.
Lion Cutlery
Lockwood Brothers
Lord Bros.
M.C.Co. Meriden
M.Klaas
M.Y. Rogers Sons & Co.
Magnetic Cutlery Co.
Majestic Cutlery Co.
Manhattan Cut. Co.
Mcknight Cutlery
Miller Bros
Monarch
Moore - Handley
N.& Co.
Nippel
Norfolk Knife Co
North American Cutlery
Ostdiek
Paxton & Gallagher
Penn Cutlery Co.
Peter Hendrichs & Grah
Peters Bros Cut Co.
Portland Cutlery Co.
Powr-Kraft
Prentiss Knife Co.
Prolific H.B & Son
Quaker Cutlery
R. Bunting & Son
R.J. Richter
Rango Cutlery Co.
Richards & Conover Hdw. Co.
Richards Bros. & Sons
Roberts Brothers
Roberts Sheffield
Rosenbaum/Iros Keen
Rostfrei
Russell
S.& A.
S.H.K. & Co.
Saber Japan
Samco
Samuel Robinson
Schatt Morgan Cutlery Co
Schmactenberg Brothers
SCHMIDT & ZIGLER
Schrade Cut Co
Seneca Cutlery
Shumate Knife Co.
Silver Steel
Sorge
Spalding & Co. Phoenix
Sperry & Alexander
St. Lawrence Cutlery Co.
Sta-Sharp
Standard Cut. Co.
Sterling L.G.H
Stevenson
Sword & Shield
Taylor Union Cutlery
Terrier Cutlery
Thomson
Tioga Cutlery
Tonerini Scarperia
Tyler's Celebrated Cutlery
U.K.& R. Co.
U.S. Cutlery Co.
Underhill & Co.
Union Stock
United Cutlery
Utica Co. Germany
Utica Kutmaster
Valley Forge
Van Camp
Vanco
Veb Sesta
Veritable Fedide
Vollmer
Vom Cleff
W. Bingham
W. Spencer & Co.
W.G.C.
W&G Vogel
Wabash Cutlery Co.
Wade & Butcher
Walden Knife Co
Walter Kayser
Warris
Waterville Cutlery
Weske
Wimberly & Thomas
Winchester
Wm. Rodgers
Wm.Congreve
York Cutlery
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paulsvintage
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by paulsvintage »

::nod:: thanks Trail........for the update..
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trail
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by trail »

Eagleton Knife Company was a brand of Wester & Butz, an old maker in the Merscheid borough of Solingen dating back to 1832. My books show that the Eagleton stamp was used circa 1890, and the lack of a country of origin stamp persuades me that this knife was made before 1891.
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paulsvintage
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by paulsvintage »

::tu:: nice to see another one join the list. great shape being around 120 years old
will add Arlington cutlery co. NY.......importer thats about all thats out there about this knife company.
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trail
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by trail »

Paul, thanks for posting that knife - it belongs here because it's about as obscure as you can get. Arlington Knife Company is not listed in any of my books, and I only found one reference on Google. What puzzles me is why a company importing such fine knives should be so obscure? I like that big fat spear blade and the red tint to the handle. With no country of origin, I would guess it is pre 1891. The alternative would be that it was American made, despite what Blade said about it being an import brand. It certainly has an American look about it. We can hope that someone will turn up some more information and post it here.
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tjmurphy
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by tjmurphy »

Don't know about old, but at least obscure, at least I can't find any info on them. Both Crane Brand - Germany
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paulsvintage
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by paulsvintage »

Tom, nice old knives . maybe prior to kissing crane knives
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tjmurphy
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by tjmurphy »

::shrug:: I wish I knew Paul ::shrug::
"There are none so blind as those that refuse to see"

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edgy46
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by edgy46 »

Haynes Stellite
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trail
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by trail »

There must have been thousands of tiny knife-making operations in Germany before the Second World War. Here is another example. I have found nothing whatsoever about this knife, it is just another worn out, nondescript pen knife with an unusual stamp.
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trail
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by trail »

Knifegirl posted a Sterling back on page 5 of this thread and here is another. The two knives are about as different as knives can be, hers being a large peachseed bone handled jack and mine being a tiny MOP handled pen. Mine measures just 2 1/4 inches closed and is dwarfed by the S&M jack behind it.
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sterling_scaled.jpg
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paulsvintage
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by paulsvintage »

::tu:: nice Edgy & Trail .....love when the lists grows
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johnt
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by johnt »

I have came across a knife that i found interesting but i cant find any info on it. it is not per say a knife knife more a novelty. if someone could help i would appreciate it
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paulsvintage
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by paulsvintage »

::tu:: nice old" EYE" brand novelty knife
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MikeB
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by MikeB »

Eagleton co. A Solingen based manufacturer. According to my research, the tang stamp indicates 1890 production.
This knife is solid like the day it was made, though unfortunately one of its previous owners was enthusiastic using the grinder ::td::

Image

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edgy46
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by edgy46 »

Hatch Cut Co. Buchanan, Mich. 1894-1895
Just a relic, but an old and rare one.
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treefarmer
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by treefarmer »

edgy46, That an interesting old knife and the written info helps with the history, but what is the knife leaning on(2nd pic) that has the name Newington? Just curious. Treefarmer

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trail
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by trail »

Interesting knife and intriguing history. Do you think his partner John Clauss, who bought out his interest in Elyria Shear Company, might be the founder of Clauss Cutlery of Fremont, OH?
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by Sauconian »

treefarmer wrote:edgy46, That an interesting old knife and the written info helps with the history, but what is the knife leaning on(2nd pic) that has the name Newington? Just curious. Treefarmer
That's a bird call. Various bird-like sounds and chirps can be made according to how you twist the metal "plug" into the hole in the wood part of the device. When it doesn't chirp as well as you want, apply a little powdered rosin to 'tune' it up.

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edgy46
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by edgy46 »

Good call Fran.
It belongs to my daughter, and it will drive her cat mad looking around for the bird. :)
An uncontrolled accumulator. ::shrug::
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edgy46
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by edgy46 »

trail wrote:Interesting knife and intriguing history. Do you think his partner John Clauss, who bought out his interest in Elyria Shear Company, might be the founder of Clauss Cutlery of Fremont, OH?
Went back to the book and found this.
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gino
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Re: Old and Obscure Brands

Post by gino »

Nice one Bill, I picked up my first Hatch a few weeks ago and posted it in another thread. Here it is. They are cool knives.
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