Vintage Mother Of Pearl (MOP) Knives

[knife7knut]

Not quite pocket knives but rather a set of pearl handled butter knives by Northampton Cutlery Co. in the original box.

[gsmith7158]

That is some sassy looking pearl there Ray!

[LongBlade]

I posted this under the Southington thread with a few more photos but this MOP teardrop jack needed to be archived here as well - not sure how many jacks at 3 & 3/8" one sees with MOP covers...

[danno50]

Beautiful pearl on those butter knives, Ray, very nice!
Very lovely pearl handled jack, Lee! Below is a 3 3/8" Keen Kutter jack with MOP and a 3 1/4" Simmons Hardware jack in MOP with a Keen Kutter etch.
Dan

[LongBlade]

Those are SWEET Dan ... That Keen Kutter is so similar to the Southington too being a teardrop jack and the Simmons is a beauty too... Thanks for sharing those Dan - jacks in MOP don't seem to be so common in my experience but maybe I'm wrong ...

[Miller Bro's]

Lee & Dan

[LongBlade]

Thanks Dimitri ...

[Duffer]

Very nice and beautiful pearl handled knives/folders Ray, Lee and Dan AAPK vendor My Historical Knives has a number of MOP folders in the 3 & 3/8 to 3 & 1/2 inch range for sale and a couple approaching 4 inches—No Jacks. AAPK Vendor Connecticut Valley Knives has a MOP HSB OVB 3 & 1/2 inch fish Jack for sale. So I guess they are out there but I think as vintage knife collectors we seem to focus for the most part on the smaller pen knife and lobster and manicure type examples— at least I do. They also seem more plentiful to me in the 2 & 7/8 inch to 3 & 1/4 inch range. I have a number of vintage MOP folder examples and they are all in the smaller just mentioned size range. I guess I will have to keep an eye out for a larger specimen (Jack) that “strikes my fancy”! However a MOP 3 & 1/2 inch Jack just seems out of place on a more substantial work type knife But maybe that is just me

[danno50]

Thanks Dimitri and Lee.
Dan

[danno50]

Thanks Lloyd.
Just did a search for "pearl pocket knives" on ebay. 1191 hits, of which a lot were fancy Case trappers and peanuts. I didn't have the patience to look through them all for old jacks. So searched "vintage pearl pocket knives". Came up with 323 hits. There were quite a few Parker made knives and lots of cracked ice celluloid. There were only two vintage jacks with MOP: a 2-7/16" Robeson and a Case Tested tadpole (2-1/2").
So, I believe this somewhat supports Lee's assumption that MOP handled jacks in 3 3/8" and larger are uncommon.
I also agree with Lloyd, MOP would look out of place on a larger working jack.
Dan

[LongBlade]

Thanks Lloyd and interesting discussion points on MOP Jacks from Dan and you ... It was no doubt the size at 3 3/8" that made it pretty unique to me and was thinking it was made for those with "fancy pants" I no doubt agree with you Lloyd that MOP on a bigger work knife just doesn't seem right - as you guys pointed out it sounds to me the larger ones may be more rare. I know I have at least one smaller jack in MOP but sounds by your searches and collections there was plenty smaller for sure and a few larger like those Case patterns.

Cheers!
Lee

[FRJ]

What beautiful old knives, Lee and Dan. I haven't been to this thread in a while. Great show, guys.

Here's and old Empire, 3 1/2".

[JAMESC41001]

Great knife Joe! Always amazes me to see them survive in such good condition after so much time. I guess a few really were carried by gentlemen.

[BWT]

Very nice Joe, you always have some good looking knives!!!

[OLDE CUTLER]

I don't know if they qualify as "vintage" but my two:
Rodgers MOP pen, obviously been dropped.

Fight'n Rooster whittler/canoe

[steve99f]

Found this old Remington in a junk bucket at a flea market this weekend. 3 inch pen knife, still tight and amazingly, the MOP is in tact. I've attached a couple of pictures. Thanks for looking.

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

Wow - that's a beauty Steve!

[steve99f]

Thanks TFL!

[FRJ]

What a fortunate find that is, Steve.

[BWT]

Good find Steve, nice

[steve99f]

Thanks for the comments guys!

[KAW]

Here's a Walden Knife Co. small congress pen knife....

[djknife13]

Classy knife Ken. ___Dave

[galvanic1882]

I posted this to the Congress thread but thought it should be posted here too. This is a beefy 3 3/4" closed congress. Opening and closing it screams quality!! I am really lucky to have gotten this one.

[Duffer]

Mike, that is a beautiful and gorgeous large MOP congress That carved or checkered pattern is just phenomenal! Outstanding score