Imperial Mexico

[New_Windsor_NY]

I really don't think that the handles are celluloid. Under a pretty good magnifying glass, I can see "lines" in the material.

You're the best judge because you have it in hand and I'm definitely not an ivory expert. Ivory doesn't have fine little lines (capillaries) like bone, it can have long lines that are free flowing and wavy. The lines in French ivory tend to look like pinstripes which is what I thought I saw in that knife. The pic below has an ivory knife and a french ivory knife.
ivoryfrenchivory.jpg

Here is a picture of one side of the knife in question. The lines are fairly visible. I'll go with the French Ivory decision.
But, is French Ivory, ivory? Or is it a fancy name for celluloid?
Click on the picture to ENLARGE.

[jxr1197]

..is it a fancy name for celluloid?

Yep

[New_Windsor_NY]

I just purchased this knife for best offer. It is a PASTOR ALEMAN (German Shepherd), single blade, hawkbill pruner pocket knife. This knife "brand" is part of the Imperial Mexico story/connection. It does have the German Shepherd's head profile on the tang. That qualifies it, albeit a stretch, for residency at the zoo. It appears to be in wonderful condition. When I receive it, I'll give it the once over, take some pictures and post them in the appropriate location(s).

[Papa Bones]

Skip........ This entire thread is nothing but one awesome collection. Soon you gonna have to give us a Whole Collective Perspective of just what you've acquired of Pastor Alemans. I've truly enjoyed watching you add to it.

[New_Windsor_NY]

Skip........ This entire thread is nothing but one awesome collection. Soon you gonna have to give us a Whole Collective Perspective of just what you've acquired of Pastor Alemans. I've truly enjoyed watching you add to it.

Thank you Papa Bones. I enjoy adding to it.

[New_Windsor_NY]

This morning I purchased this knife for best offer. It is a PASTOR ALEMAN (German Shepherd), single blade pocket knife. This knife "brand" is part of the Imperial Mexico story/connection. It looks like it's in pretty good shape. When I receive it, I'll give it the once over, take some pictures and post them in the appropriate location(s

[New_Windsor_NY]

This evening I purchased this knife. It is a PASTOR ALEMAN (German Shepherd), single blade pocket knife. This knife "brand" is part of the Imperial Mexico story/connection. It appears to be in pretty good condition. When I receive it, I'll give it the once over, take some pictures and post them in the appropriate location(s).

***** jxr1197 (Jason) says that this is a Cumosa by the Edge Company (next post down) *****

[jxr1197]

This evening I purchased this knife. It is a PASTOR ALEMAN (German Shepherd), single blade pocket knife. This knife "brand" is part of the Imperial Mexico story/connection. It appears to be in pretty good condition. When I receive it, I'll give it the once over, take some pictures and post them in the appropriate location(s).

You got the Cumosa! I completely forgot to bid on that one. Glad you wound up with it - very cool knife.
When it arrives you should ditch that keyring and put a leather lanyard on it. That's how is came from the factory. Those knives were made by Edge Co in Mexico and there was a time when they were sold as kits that you ordered and put together yourself. A mail order switchblade! How cool is that?

[New_Windsor_NY]

This evening I purchased this knife. It is a PASTOR ALEMAN (German Shepherd), single blade pocket knife. This knife "brand" is part of the Imperial Mexico story/connection. It appears to be in pretty good condition. When I receive it, I'll give it the once over, take some pictures and post them in the appropriate location(s).

You got the Cumosa! I completely forgot to bid on that one. Glad you wound up with it - very cool knife.
When it arrives you should ditch that keyring and put a leather lanyard on it. That's how is came from the factory. Those knives were made by Edge Co in Mexico and there was a time when they were sold as kits that you ordered and put together yourself. A mail order switchblade! How cool is that?

Thank you Jason. So now, in addition to Imperial and Colonial being involved in Mexico, this Edge Company was involved there also. This is starting to get interesting.

I found a couple of pictures regarding a Cumosa that knife7knut has. It's pictured here:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=62384&p=737216&hilit=Cumosa#p736294
The 5th & 6th picture down.

[jxr1197]

Thank you Jason. So now, in addition to Imperial and Colonial being involved in Mexico, this Edge Company was involved there also. This is starting to get interesting.

I found a couple of pictures regarding a Cumosa that knife7knut has. It's pictured here:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=62384&p=737216&hilit=Cumosa#p736294
The 5th & 6th picture down.

Thanks for posting a link to that thread - that oblique Shapleigh is insane. I am wrong in what I said there about Cuchilleria Monterrey making them. Edge Co made them FOR Cuchilleria Monterrey.

[New_Windsor_NY]

Thank you Jason. So now, in addition to Imperial and Colonial being involved in Mexico, this Edge Company was involved there also. This is starting to get interesting.

I found a couple of pictures regarding a Cumosa that knife7knut has. It's pictured here:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=62384&p=737216&hilit=Cumosa#p736294
The 5th & 6th picture down.

Thanks for posting a link to that thread - that oblique Shapleigh is insane. I am wrong in what I said there about Cuchilleria Monterrey making them. Edge Co made them FOR Cuchilleria Monterrey.

I'll have to look closely when the knife arrives, but I think all mine says is PASTOR ALEMAN. I don't think anything about Edge Co is stamped or etched on the knife.

[jxr1197]

I'll have to look closely when the knife arrives, but I think all mine says is PASTOR ALEMAN. I don't think anything about Edge Co is stamped or etched on the knife.

It's a contract knife - the same as the Pastor Alemans made by Imperial or Colonial that only say PA.

[jxr1197]

Mexican Pastor Aleman Enjoy Coca Cola Knife - the tiny writing above 'Coca Cola' is "Disfrute".

[New_Windsor_NY]

I'll have to look closely when the knife arrives, but I think all mine says is PASTOR ALEMAN. I don't think anything about Edge Co is stamped or etched on the knife.

It's a contract knife - the same as the Pastor Alemans made by Imperial or Colonial that only say PA.

Do you know where Edge Co was located?
VERY NICE Coca Cola knife.

[jxr1197]

Do you know where Edge Co was located?

You know, I never bothered to look it up until just now. I haven't found anything on Edge Co yet but here's something interesting - in 1981 the Cumosa trademark was granted to a company in Monterrey.........Cuchilleria Monterrey! LOL

Clearly some more digging is warranted. Edge Co was a separate company but obviously there's some connection. To be continued.....

[New_Windsor_NY]

I'll have to look closely when the knife arrives, but I think all mine says is PASTOR ALEMAN. I don't think anything about Edge Co is stamped or etched on the knife.

It's a contract knife - the same as the Pastor Alemans made by Imperial or Colonial that only say PA.

There has to be some kind of meaning behind the two, different, PASTOR ALEMAN tang stamps. One is the "plain" PASTOR ALEMAN and the other is the PASTOR ALEMAN with the dog head profile. Are there any other styles of the PASTOR ALEMAN tang stamp that you're aware of?

[New_Windsor_NY]

This morning I bought this knife for best offer. Another addition to my south of the border collection. It is a PASTOR ALEMAN (German Shepherd), 2 blade, 1 tool pocket knife. This knife "brand" is part of the Imperial Mexico story/connection. It appears to be in pretty good condition. When I receive it, I'll give it the once over, take some pictures and post them in the appropriate location(s).

[New_Windsor_NY]

This afternoon I purchased this CUMOSA knife for best offer. It will be added to my south of the border collection. It is stamped with a logo next to CUMOSA (over) INOX MEXICO (over) EDGECO. It is a single blade pocket knife. This knife "brand" is part of the Imperial Mexico story/connection. It appears to be in fairly good condition, but it will need some cleaning. When I receive it, I'll give it the once over, take some pictures and post them in the appropriate location(s).

[New_Windsor_NY]

Do you know where Edge Co was located?

You know, I never bothered to look it up until just now. I haven't found anything on Edge Co yet but here's something interesting - in 1981 the Cumosa trademark was granted to a company in Monterrey.........Cuchilleria Monterrey! LOL

Clearly some more digging is warranted. Edge Co was a separate company but obviously there's some connection. To be continued.....

Apparently, Edge Company was located in Brattleboro, Vermont. Click on the link, 13th post.
viewtopic.php?f=86&t=6134

[jxr1197]

Apparently, Edge Company was located in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Nice work! I have heard of Edge in Brattleboro but didn't connect the dots. I have an Edge somewhere - it's a little stockman with their 'Edge' in an oval mark. I'll post a pic if I can find it. Pretty sure they were importers only. I don't think they made knives. I'm not surprised you found the info in an old LT post. He wrote the book on old switchblades, literally. Now it makes sense why I couldn't find an address for them in Mexico. Since we know that Cuchilleria Monterrey owned the Pastor Aleman and Cumosa marks, it's not much of a stretch to say they were the manufacturer and the Edge Co kits were contract knives.

[jxr1197]

Apparently, Edge Company was located in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Here's the Edge knife I was talking about. Nothing to do with Mexico, just sharing a pic of one of their German knives.

[New_Windsor_NY]

This morning I acquired this CUMOSA knife for best offer. It will be added to my south of the border collection. I'm pretty sure that it is stamped with a logo next to CUMOSA (over) INOX MEXICO (over) EDGECO. But actually, all I can make out is EDGECO. It is a single blade pocket knife. This knife "brand" is part of the Imperial Mexico story/connection. It appears to be in pretty good condition, but it might need some cleaning. When I receive it, I'll give it the once over, take some pictures and post them in the appropriate location(s).

[New_Windsor_NY]

This morning, my trip to the post office produced these two knives for my "South Of The Border" collection. The first 5 pictures, a PASTOR ALEMAN (German Shepherd), single blade, hawkbill pruner pocket knife. It needed no cleaning. The last 5 pictures, a PASTOR ALEMAN (German Shepherd), single blade, lock back pocket knife. You can barely see it, but it has 007 "etched" on the handle. That wasn't in the seller's description, but I'm not complaining. It measures 5 5/8" closed and 10" with the blade open. It needed no cleaning. I took some pictures and here are the knives. Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

[New_Windsor_NY]

Today I replaced a missing(?) rawhide lanyard on the "007" knife.

Not this particular knife, but the same style "007 flipper knife" has a morbid place in rock n' roll history. In October 1978, evidently it was a similar "007" style knife that killed Nancy Spungen, girlfriend of Sid Vicious. Sid was a member of the punk music group, the Sex Pistols. Sid supposedly bought the knife on 42nd Street in N.Y.C. He denied killing her, he OD'd before the investigation ended.

[jxr1197]

Sid supposedly bought the knife on 42nd Street in N.Y.C.

When I was a kid in NY every bodega in the city sold 007 knives for a couple of bucks. They were cheap and everyone was carrying them. The ones sold in the city weren't Pastor Alemans - they just had the Made in Japan stamp and cheap wood handles. I never heard the Sid and Nancy reference but I'm not surprised. The 007 had a reputation for being ubiquitous with the rising street crime and violence of the 70s in NYC. The good old days...