Boker Knives - The Cooper era

[rangerbluedog]

The Cooper Tool Group in Apex, NC owned Boker USA from 1977 to 1983 when they discontinued manufacture of Boker knives in the U.S.

Let's see your Cooper era Bokers!

I'll start with this one. It's the German made 1979 LTD edition "Hardware Store". I think all the LTD knives were made in Germany during the Cooper era. The Cooper era also saw the Series II "Great American Story" knives, and possibly the beautiful "Genuine Bone" set that smiling-knife posted on another thread.

[rangerbluedog]

I just bought a book: COOPER INDUSTRIES 1833-1983, by David N. Keller. While not a book on cutlery, it shows how you may find nuggets of information in other resources. This book was written the year that Cooper Indutries ceased knife production in the United States (1983). No mention is made of that fact, so I guess it was written before the shutdown.
The decade of the 1970s was filled with corporate buyouts - both friendly and unfriendly. Here are a couple of quotes about the NewBritain/J. Wiss/Litton Industries/Cooper Tool/Boker connections.

"J. Wiss and Sons company, of Newark, New Jersey, was recognized as the premier name in quality scissors, shears, and snips, and it had added the well known "Tree Brand" knives to its product line through the purchase of the H. Boker & Co. plant in Maplewood, New Jersey, in 1970."

Can anyone find the run-on sentence? sheesh.
More to follow...

[rangerbluedog]

"Boker predated Wiss in America. Founded in 1837 by Herman (sic) Boker, a descendent of an old family of Prussian merchants, it imported and manufactured cutlery sold primarily to hardware jobbers. Operating from quarters in New York City, the company earned its reputation principally by selling German and English hardware and cutlery for many years. Among its products was the celebrated "Tree Brand" knife, manufactured by Heinr Boker & Company, of Solingen, Germany. H. Boker & Company was exclusive distributor in the American market, but there was no other official connection between the two companies beyond the founders tracing their ancestry to the same family. Eventually, a royalty arrangement permitted the American firm to apply the Boker Tree Brand name to its own manufactured products. This was halted in World War I when all German patents and trademarks were dropped in this country.
In 1926, John R. Boker, Sr., president of H. Boker & Company, expressed concern that business had not grown for many years, having been 'just allowed to be kept alive'. To instill new momentum he built a manufacturing plant at Hilton, New Jersey. Later the town name was changed to Maplewood. It was not until 1949 that the company again was able to acquire rights to produce knives under the Boker Tree Brand trademark. Two years later, a vigorous advertising campaign opened worldwide markets, ironically putting Boker in competition with the Solingen, Germany firm from whom it obtained trademark rights."
" In 1965, the plant was purchased by the NEW BRITAIN MACHINE COMPANY, which was acquired later by LITTON INDUSTRIES [approximately 1968]. When Wiss bought the building and assets [in 1970], it acquired the Tree Brand trademark."

and to wrap it up, COOPER bought WISS, and concurrently BOKER, in 1977.

[ABMontgomery]

I have this knife, the hardware industry knife, and I was wondering how much it was worth.

[rangerbluedog]

I see them going at online auction anywhere between $30-$80