J.A Henckels Pocket Knife

[TCassidy]

Bought this at a estate sale, cannot find out any information so far, any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Ridgegrass]

TC: It's a nice one. Typical of the European fascination with multiblade gentlemen's knives around the turn of the century. Most of the one's I see have chips in the pearl ; yours looks pretty good. Not extremely valuable but a dedicated collector may pay up for one. I'd keep in in a small jewelry bag to protect the pearl and only handle it over a soft surface like a carpet or furniture. It would be a shame to chip that lovely pearl. Good luck. J.O'.

[TCassidy]

Thanks for the info, what date would you put on it?

[Mumbleypeg]

Nice knife! Agree with J.O.’s comments. My guess would be it’s from first half of the 20th century. The lack of a button hook makes me think probably after 1920 or thereabouts. Similar knives I’ve seen have a button hook which was common from around 1880-1920, when buttons were commonplace. They began to go out of style post WWI and hence they disappeared from knives about that time. Of course it’s possible the knife is earlier and just made without a button hook.

Someone here may have more info or a different opinion. Welcome to AAPK.

Ken

[Ridgegrass]

Good eye Ken, didn't think to look for the hook. Probably a later model . J.O'.

[knife7knut]

TC: It's a nice one. Typical of the European fascination with multiblade gentlemen's knives around the turn of the century. Most of the one's I see have chips in the pearl ; yours looks pretty good. Not extremely valuable but a dedicated collector may pay up for one. I'd keep in in a small jewelry bag to protect the pearl and only handle it over a soft surface like a carpet or furniture. It would be a shame to chip that lovely pearl. Good luck. J.O'.

I think this little gem is quite a valuable piece;especially to a collector of miniature knives.I would be proud to put it into my,"accumulation". Thanks for posting it and the great pictures.

[Boji]

Am I seeing correctly, about 1 1/2 inch closed?
I’ve sold quite a few of this type but never one that small. Very cool.

[TCassidy]

It is very small, but not really usable, most of the blades are hard to open even after I put silicone oil on the back springs, but it is nicely made.

[kootenay joe]

I think the arched Henckels stamping is older than 1920's, could be late 1800's. I do not have my new Henckels book with me to check on this. Maybe "Mason" will post.
kj

[Mason]

While Henckels offered larger sized pearl and tortoise shell handled multi-blade folders at least as early as the 1870s, very small examples such as this one don't appear in Henckels catalogs until the 1920s, and were not made after WWII.

[1967redrider]

Very nice and those things usually fetch a high price.

[brandonwhite]

Let me know if you find out. I really want a similar knife because it looks super useful and cool, especially for camping.

[kootenay joe]

Let me know if you find out. I really want a similar knife because it looks super useful and cool, especially for camping.

I have owned a few of the 1 1/2" pearl multiblades, but all had cracked or missing pearl. It is far too small to be useful for camping. They were made to be a 'show piece', i.e. how many tools and blades could be fit into such a tiny knife and still have perfect 'action' and no rub. They were expensive jewelry for Gents.
The O.P. knife is '7 thick', i.e. 7 'layers of blades/tools' which makes it one of the more intricate ones. Mine were 4 or 5 thick.
To a collector of these it could well be worth $500 or more.
kj

[GSPTOPDOG]

TC: It's a nice one. Typical of the European fascination with multiblade gentlemen's knives around the turn of the century. Most of the one's I see have chips in the pearl ; yours looks pretty good. Not extremely valuable but a dedicated collector may pay up for one. I'd keep in in a small jewelry bag to protect the pearl and only handle it over a soft surface like a carpet or furniture. It would be a shame to chip that lovely pearl. Good luck. J.O'.

Wise words Ridgegrass! I was handling a pocket knife with pearl scales over a tile floor... and it slipped right of my hands and hit the floor and that left a big 'ol chip inthe scales...