?????? Autopoint

[Cutmyself]

Hi guys, I found this knife so rusted up almost could not get the blades out. After cleaning and oiling I think it lools good considering. My camera will not take close ups so sorry for the pictures. On the tang the stamp says Autopoint in script, under that Chicago and under USA. Anyone know anything about the age or anything about the company. Thanks for the help, Tom.

[knife7knut]

Levine's Guide lists the company as being in business from 1911-1979.I would venture that yours is from the 1950's;maybe slightly before.Is there a phone number stamped into it? The style of number(all numbers;letters and numbers;area code;etc.)is usually a good indicator;also if the last part of the number has less than 4 digits it indicates an earlier date.

I have quite a few Autopoint knives and letter opener knives and they range from the 1930's to the 1950's.

[Cutmyself]

Well, no phone number it just says "Banks Haigood Plumbing & Heating" I tried to google the plumbing company name but did not get any hits. I wish I knew somewhere to find out where and at what time the plumbing company was in business. Any ideas on how to research the plumbing company would be helpful. Thanks Tom

[superdavemack]

knife7knut is right on the money in my opinion, I have a couple autopoint ad knives and great suggestions to look for a phone #, since you don't have that it might be cool to google that company and see how long they been around and if they still exit.....Autopoint seemed to make alot of those fuax pearl handled knives in the fifties, that's the period mine are from....fun knife good for you

[superdavemack]

sorry cutmyself I see you already tried googling the company.....that knife looks like it cleaned up good.....the one thing I'll say for the old Autopoints I have is that they have good snap for as old as they were and were'nt a real cheap knife

[philco]

Haigood isn't exactly Smith or Jones........ I'd suggest tryng WhitePages.com for a hit on that name and go from there. Good luck.

Phil

[knife7knut]

The problem is that without a phone number or address,it is difficult to chase down a business.Today with area and ZIP codes it is not a problem.

Granted it is not exactly a common name but I tried doing a Yahoo search and came up with nothing.

Even if you pick up a piece in your area there is no guarantee that it originated there.There are sites that have old business directories listed on line but some of them charge a fee to use them and there are many years missing.
I recall trying to look up a business in the Boston Massachusetts area that had sold a set of dissection tools made by Bausch & Lomb.In the course of looking up the company(Codman&Shurtleff)I came across a listing for an old time psychic who had the same name as my grandfather's cousin.Turned out it was her after doing some further research! Never know what you will find.
Another time I was doing research on a German advertising knife (Bayer Pharmaceuticals)that had several other business names on it.Turned out they were part of a huge conglomerate(I.G.Farben)and I spent about 3 hours reading the history of these companies.In reading of them I discovered that Bayer was credited with introducing heroin to the market as a morphine substitute(in children's cough syrup no less!Wasn't removed until 1971!)before WWI.During WWII they not only developed Zyklon B(the gas used in the gas chambers)but developed methadone as still another morphine substitute.By the way the real name of methadone is Dolophine which was named for Adolph Hitler! Amazing what you can learn when researching knives!
Anyway;sorry to rant on.Hope you are able to locate the company.Meanwhile here are some pictures of my Autopoint letter opener knives with ads.Enjoy.

[curmudgn]

Hi all,
I had never heard of Autopoint until I recently acquired one at a yard sale (photo attached).
Turns out that Autopoint was indeed in Chicago until 1979 when they moved to Janesville, WI.
http://www.autopointinc.com/about-us
They are still very much alive and still concentrating on their core business which has always been mechanical pencils.
However, their current catalog does list 5 different little pocketknives.
That's all I've got.

[vikingdog]

Thanks curmudgn. I just picked up one like yours at the flea market. It's marked Jones and Laughling Steel Co. and was given out as a safety award in 1953. It's a nice knife, I'm surprised I hadn't heard of them before.

[whitebuffalo58]

I did a bit of research on Autopoint knives several years ago. I believe the vast majority of them were built by Camillus/Camco. They were definetly at their peak during the 50's-60's.

WB

[afishhunter]

Ahhh ...so not an auto dealership?
I thought maybe it was a "freebe" originally found in the glove box of a new Studebaker, Nash, Hudson, or Willies ... maybe Plymouth.

I don't see how to post a picture, so here's a link to mine, over on Blade Forums.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/any ... t-20698863

No advertizing on mine, unless it is under the blade patina, which I plan on keeping.

[kootenay joe]

Seems you need to be a BladeForums member to see the post in your link.
kj

[afishhunter]

Sorry to revive an old thread.

I have an Autopoint (Chicago) with clip point and cap lifter/screw driver, (real) Tip bolsters. The covers are genuine bone.
If there was any advertising on the knife, it is long gone.

My question:
Did Autopoint make bone handled knives during the "Chicago Era"?
All the photos I can find online have celluloid(?) covers.
I'm wondering if it is factory, or if a previous owner re-handled it.

[Reverand]

If you would, post some good pictures of the knife. It may really help in answering your questions.

[rustof]

I have a couple of Autopoints....I too don't know what the handles are made out of. I would call the two examples I have celluloid but I've never seen one crack/disintegrate like celluloid does....plastic obviously....but does it get any more specific than that?

[Mumbleypeg]

Your knives look like celluloid. Not all celluloid cracks or disintegrates, certainly not at the same rate, which is what makes celluloid such a mystery. What triggers the shrinkage and disintegration is unknown. Some colors, and also celluloids used by some makers, at least anecdotally seem more stable.

Back before the advent of knife collecting, knives were made to be used. Many led a hard life of use and abuse. I’ve read that the typical lifetime of a pocket knife at that time was less than 5 years. By then it was broken, used up, lost, or thrown into the trash. Having handle covers that would last 50 or 100 years was laughable. And modern chemistry that would eventually produce plastics like acrylics was non-existent. (Maybe they won’t last 50 years either - only time will tell).

Today people wonder “why would they ever use a material like celluloid when they knew it would shrink and deteriorate?” The answer is, they didn’t know that. Just like cigarettes being a cause of cancer, that’s something we learned over time, study, and observation of cause and effect.

Ken

[just bob]

The problem is that without a phone number or address,it is difficult to chase down a business.Today with area and ZIP codes it is not a problem.

Granted it is not exactly a common name but I tried doing a Yahoo search and came up with nothing.

Even if you pick up a piece in your area there is no guarantee that it originated there.There are sites that have old business directories listed on line but some of them charge a fee to use them and there are many years missing.
I recall trying to look up a business in the Boston Massachusetts area that had sold a set of dissection tools made by Bausch & Lomb.In the course of looking up the company(Codman&Shurtleff)I came across a listing for an old time psychic who had the same name as my grandfather's cousin.Turned out it was her after doing some further research! Never know what you will find.
Another time I was doing research on a German advertising knife (Bayer Pharmaceuticals)that had several other business names on it.Turned out they were part of a huge conglomerate(I.G.Farben)and I spent about 3 hours reading the history of these companies.In reading of them I discovered that Bayer was credited with introducing heroin to the market as a morphine substitute(in children's cough syrup no less!Wasn't removed until 1971!)before WWI.During WWII they not only developed Zyklon B(the gas used in the gas chambers)but developed methadone as still another morphine substitute.By the way the real name of methadone is Dolophine which was named for Adolph Hitler! Amazing what you can learn when researching knives!
Anyway;sorry to rant on.Hope you are able to locate the company.Meanwhile here are some pictures of my Autopoint letter opener knives with ads.Enjoy.

The exact same thing is true on old tokens. I have spent hundreds of hours researching them. Tokens without identifying information are considered mavericks tokens and cataloged that way. A token that only says Joe's Bar is virtually impossible to id with certainty due to the commonality of the name, however a token that says Joe's Bar / 101 N Main St. is much easier to be certain of. A token that says Joe's Bar / 101 N. Main St. / 765 - 1234 is even easier to be certain of. Old city directories are of great value to researchers. Dunn & Bradstreet business directories are also of high value to researchers. A rule in tokens that I assume applies elsewhere is a token with a national name, such as Sears and has no other information is always id'd to the HQ of the company. I don't know where the HQ for Autopoint was, but I think that would be the home for that knife.

[Jeepergeo]

Jeeze, the air conditioning and heating company I do business with never gives away a promotional item that nice!!

[Ridgegrass]

Jeeper: Nobody seems to give away anything of quality these days, just junkie Chinese and Pakistani stuff. Just as an aside and comparison, the knife below was given away probably around the 30's to the 50's and it was made by one of the finest companies there ever was. As they say, "Them days is gone forever." (The clay company may still be in business.) Your Autopoint is nice. Good luck. J.O'.

[OLDE CUTLER]

I recently acquired this tip bolster jack with a tang stamp I had not seen before. It is marked Autopoint Chicago USA and is 3 inches OAL closed. It could be called a jack, or a beer jack, or a beer knife with the clip blade and a bottle opener. The advertising imprinted is International Milling Co Minneapolis Minn. which changed its name in 1979, so this knife would have been made before then.

[New_Windsor_NY]

Not too recently, this pocket knife arrived in a group or lot of pocket knives that I bought. I did NOT buy the group or lot of pocket knives to obtain this particular pocket knife. But, it did turn out to be a keeper. It did get added to my general, pocket knife accumulation. It is an Autopoint, two blades, one tang stamp, 3 1/8" closed, one spring, pocket knife. The main blade front tang stamp says, "Autopoint (written) (over) CHICAGO (over) USA" It does look like there WAS advertising on the main handle side of this pocket knife at one time. It is NOT there now, but I can see the remains of a letter "T" and a number "2" This pocket knife is in EXCELLENT condition. This pocket knife did NOT need any cleaning. I just wiped it off. I took some pictures and here it is.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

[New_Windsor_NY]

Not too recently, this advertising pocket knife arrived in a group or lot of pocket knives that I purchased. I did NOT purchase the group or lot to obtain this particular pocket knife. However, it did turn out to be a keeper. It did get added to my general, advertising, pocket knife accumulation. It is an Autopoint, two blades, one tang stamp, 3 1/8" closed, one spring, advertising, pocket knife. The main blade tang stamp says, "Autopoint (written) (over) CHICAGO (over) USA" The main handle side says, "COASTAL PLAINS SUPPLY CO. - DALLAS-PR-3906-PR-1377" The other handle side says nothing, it is blank. This pocket knife is in GOOD condition. It did require some very minor cleaning. I took some pictures and here it is.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.