Philadelphia Cutlery

[djknife13]

Bought a Philadelphia Cultery 4 blade congress on Ebay and can't find anything listed anywhere. I see you guys had a discussion about this company a few years back. Did anyone come up or does anyone know anything about this company?

[djknife13]

Knife should come in the mail today so maybe I can get my kid to post a picture or two and maybe someone will help figure out who this company is.

[djknife13]

Knife came today. It's fair quality and marked "Made in Germany". This particular knife was a dissapointment because of the description given on Ebay, or rather , lack of information. The 2 large blades cross over the 2 pen blades on this congress, and the knife was re-pinned and one bolster was shaved about half way through. It didn't show up on the pictures. Still don't know anything about Philadelphia Cuttlery except some or all were German.

[btrwtr]

Goins' lists a "Philadelphia Barber's Supply Co." as a Trademark of T. Hessenbruch & Co. that was located in Philadelphia. Could be a connection there.

Wayne

[btrwtr]

Here is a straight razor that sold recently on eBay that is marked Philadelphia Cutlery Co. on the mark side and Biddle on the reverse. Interesting that Biddle Hardware Co. was located in Philadelphia.

Goins says that Biddle dealt in all types of cutlery c. 1837 - 1920. In about 1920 Biddle became Supple-Biddle Hardware Co.

I would say there is a strong possibility that your knife is a Biddle product.

Wayne

[carrmillus]

...are the handles celluloid???..... ..........

[djknife13]

The handles are brown/tan pick bone and it has a large (1&3/8th) inch curved bar shield. Sure wish I could get my computer towork faster so it wouldn't take forever to post pictures. The knife is a pretty standard jigged bone 4 blade congress with groved bolsters. The stamping looks identical to your Razor and is stamped on all 4 blades with Germany on the back tang of one of the blades. Thanks for your interest. Dave

[PA Knives]

I have a nice example of a Philadelphia Cutlery four blade in bone for sale if interested. As a self proclaimed expert in Pennsylvania related knives I can say with confidence that yes indeed they were made for Biddle Hardware.

[djknife13]

Thanks PA. Do you know if most of there knives came from Germany or did they have a number of suppliers. I have collected a number of Marshall Wells knives and tools as they were a locally based company and they bought stuff from all over so I wondered if it was the same kind of deal with Biddle. Dave