Robeson Totem Pole Penknife

The first Robeson knives were imported by Millard Robeson from England and Germany exclusively. This continued from 1979 until 1896 when Robeson began manufacturing knives in the United States. Since inception, the company has gone through several reorganizations & eventually ended up as a Queen Cutlery brand.
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Robeson Totem Pole Penknife

Post by RobesonsRme.com »

I found this auction interesting. I followed it, thought about bidding, but didn't.

I have one of these in near mint condition, but with nickel-silver handles. These little knives are relatively rare. I've only seen about three and they were all nickel-silver.

This one, apparently, is something other than nickel-silver. The seller stated "bronze". Could be, I suppose. Could be brass.

I was somewhat surprised by the selling price; better than $130.00 with shipping.

Very good, I thought, in this economic climate.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT

Charlie Noyes
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Re: Robeson Totem Pole Penknife

Post by allmightyoz »

that is a pretty cool little knife. you should post up a picture of yours bud!
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Re: Robeson Totem Pole Penknife

Post by paulsvintage »

::drool:: very nice item not much blade loss sorry i missed it. i have only seen one before that was used up
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Re: Robeson Totem Pole Penknife

Post by RobesonsRme.com »

I'm away from my home PC. I cannot post pics of my knives right now.

I tried to copy the auction pics, but wasn't able to do that successfully either.

Charlie Noyes
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Re: Robeson Totem Pole Penknife

Post by allmightyoz »

you can always press the PRT SC button on your keyboard. If you do, it takes a snapshot of your entire computer screen. Go into the Paint program and press Paste under the edit tab. Your desktop snapshot will be pasted into a paint file and you can upload it on here! I saw the ebay pics though. Just for future reference.
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Re: Robeson Totem Pole Penknife

Post by 1967redrider »

Never seen one of these before, or a knife quite like this. Just wondering- how old do you think it is?
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Re: Robeson Totem Pole Penknife

Post by Ramrod »

Pics for posterity
$(KGrHqEOKjUE3)w8R)59BN9N25I-d!~~0_12.jpg
$(KGrHqEOKjUE3)w8R)59BN9N25I-d!~~0_12.jpg (30.33 KiB) Viewed 3383 times
$(KGrHqQOKnEE3ZeHQBy(BN9N243wpw~~0_12.jpg
$(KGrHqQOKnEE3ZeHQBy(BN9N243wpw~~0_12.jpg (20.37 KiB) Viewed 3383 times
$(KGrHqUOKooE3EozljvgBN9N26crQ!~~0_12.jpg
$(KGrHqUOKooE3EozljvgBN9N26crQ!~~0_12.jpg (47.16 KiB) Viewed 3383 times
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Re: Robeson Totem Pole Penknife

Post by RobesonsRme.com »

Thanks for posting the auction pics, Ramrod.

These knives are from before 1940.

I'm back home after a week at Hilton Head with son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. So, here is a scan of my nickel-silver version.

These knives have no pattern number. Makes me wonder if they weren't made as a promotional item for somebody.

Charlie Noyes
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Re: Robeson Totem Pole Penknife

Post by chetr1200c »

charlie, nice knives...
i know you posted something about pattern stamping for robies somewhere, but i also wish i could send pics. i have two robeson easy opens that are identical in every respect expect one...pattern number on one has 62227, and the other has 622027.. i know you said they dropped the zero on the last 3rd digit on some smaller patterns.. but i thought this was very interesting that they stamped same pattern with different numbers....i kinda like it,, matching set, but then again not so matching

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Re: Robeson Totem Pole Penknife

Post by RobesonsRme.com »

Chet, when I see a Robeson knife with a five digit pattern number, as I read it to myself, I automatically put the zero in its proper place.
To me, your two knives have the same pattern number.
I don't care how many Robeson catalogs you look at, you'll never see a knife illustrated with a five digit number. Granted, in the 1950's Robeson imported some German made knives and they all had four digit numbers. But, all other knives in their catalogs are listed with six digit numbers.
I think the tang marking with five numbers might have been one of two things: either they were trying to econmize space on a blade tang or the guy making the die punch just omitted that zero in the fourth position.
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Re: Robeson Totem Pole Penknife

Post by Paladin »

Charlie,
Check for PM.

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