Old and Obscure Brands

[galvanic1882]

Here’s the pearl, bottom knife in the group picture, tried to show the etch.

[Miller Bro's]

Obscure brand.......

[galvanic1882]

Yep that’s a rare one

[Waukonda]

Obscure brand.......

WOW!!!! That is awesome.

Here are 2 pretty rare Newark NJ marked knives. Cattle is Sterling Cutlery Co, first knife with this mark I’ve ever seen. The big Navy folder is a J. T. Mount Newark NJ.

Those are nice, first I've heard of these, thanks for showing.

[New_Windsor_NY]

Obscure.....

VERY NICE addition, Dimitri.

[rustyoldknife]

Obscure brand.......

I have learned a new one today and its good looking also

[peanut740]

MB

[wlf]

Lots out there I’ve never heard of. MB

[PA Knives]

I doubt many of you have ever seen one of these knives. We all know Baldwin made knives in Tidioute in the 1910s, but few know they opened a satellite plant in Jamestown NY. Here is a gorgeous example. A near mint split back Whittier. A good friend, Brad Wood sold it to me after finding it at a knife show down south. Truly a rare knife check out the unique swedge and the disappearing long pull. I’ve not seen many of these

[Miller Bro's]

Very nice David!

[rustyoldknife]

I doubt many of you have ever seen one of these knives. We all know Baldwin made knives in Tidioute in the 1910s, but few know they opened a satellite plant in Jamestown NY. Here is a gorgeous example. A near mint split back Whittier. A good friend, Brad Wood sold it to me after finding it at a knife show down south. Truly a rare knife check out the unique swedge and the disappearing long pull. I’ve not seen many of these

Great looking knife

[Waukonda]

I was looking through some ebony that I hadn't handled for some time, and was reminded how much I like this one. I am pretty partial to a barehead ebony, especially one with the bar shield.

I did a "name search" here on AAPK, and evidently I had never posted it. This seemed like the proper thread. J P Swain made knives for 40 years in the latter portion of the 1800's. The knives were produced in a building which had been a grist mill.....pre Revolutionary War. I will drop that history into my pocket and carry this one for the next couple of days. The master shows a fair amount of use, but the wood scales look great, all things considered.

[New_Windsor_NY]

I.....

That BEAUTY definitely belongs under this topic or thread!!
A VERY FINE looking pocket knife, Ike.

[Waukonda]

I.....

That BEAUTY definitely belongs under this topic or thread!!
A VERY FINE looking pocket knife, Ike.

Appreciate it, Skip!

[Miller Bro's]

I was looking through some ebony that I hadn't handled for some time, and was reminded how much I like this one. I am pretty partial to a barehead ebony, especially one with the bar shield.

Wow that's a rare one!

[WMHutchi5]

Help ID this new aquisition. Coffin style jack with mother of pearl scales. Brass Bolsters. Most text has been worn off except a few letters and the word "COMPANY"

[wlf]

Nice ones Ike and David.

[Tommi]

Here’s one I need information on; got this from a relative who had a cutlery store in LA.
She told me it might be from 1930’s, given to football players participating in 1936 Olympic Games in Germany.
Can anyone verify?

[FRJ]

Here’s one I need information on; got this from a relative who had a cutlery store in LA.
She told me it might be from 1930’s, given to football players participating in 1936 Olympic Games in Germany.
Can anyone verify?

Welcome here, I only checked on a manufacturing date.
Goin's Encyclopedia of Cutlery shows the maker but gives no date of Mfg.

[New_Windsor_NY]

Here’s.....

I found this bit of information:
"C. F. Kayser. Founded in 1879. Solingen: Freidrichstrasse 31 in 1922."
I found this bit of information here:
https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kn ... 3#p1108013

[cps1992]

A little while back, I saw someone looking for info on a stamp 'a. reinig'. I like history and a challenge, so I started digging a little and found some very interesting things (if you like history). At any rate, here is what I dug up. I ended up finding more information about A. (Adam) Reinig's partner W. (Wilhelm) Georg and how he shaped Adam's business. This research was also difficult, since every document I found was written in German. I used AI quite a lot for translation, and then used it to write up this document. I appologize for the long post:

A. Reinig (formerly C. Sartorius): A Two‑Century Seltersweg Shop Becomes Today’s Waffen‑Reinig

Setting: Seltersweg and the city of Gießen
Gießen (Giessen) is a university city in Hesse, Germany. Seltersweg is its central pedestrian shopping street—Gießen’s modern “shopping mile”—and for generations it has been one of the city’s key commercial corridors.
Geography also shaped the town’s identity. Gießen sits on the River Lahn (roughly 50 km north of Frankfurt am Main), and the river divides the city into west and east. The name is commonly traced to medieval forms such as “Giezzen” (attested by 1197) and is often explained as a reference to the area’s waterways and streams. These waterways were essential in every aspect of the steelmaking process, from raw material preparation to the final product and finishing. Gießen’s role as a university city is central to its character. The University of Gießen (today Justus Liebig University) became internationally known in the 19th century, especially through the chemist Justus von Liebig (1803–1873). Liebig was appointed professor in Gießen in 1824 and helped pioneer modern laboratory‑based teaching; his work drew students and visitors from across Europe and beyond—exactly the kind of city traffic that sustained specialized retailers on streets like Seltersweg. For a long‑running steel‑goods shop that also dealt in cutlery, weapons, and optics, this location mattered: foot traffic brought everyday customers, while the surrounding trade network connected the shop to hunters, craftsmen, and households across Upper Hesse. In that context, “optics” could mean both everyday eyewear and field glasses for townspeople and students, as well as binoculars and early sporting optics for hunters and rural customers—both audiences were within reach of Seltersweg.

1812: Johann Sartorius establishes a specialist shop
In 1812, the merchant Johann Sartorius founded a specialist shop in Seltersweg, Gießen, focused on steel goods and related wares. Over time, the shop’s identity broadened into the classic mix seen in many long‑running German “Stahlwaren” houses: steel goods, knives and cutlery, optics, and—importantly for later generations—weapons and hunting equipment.

Mid‑19th century: Adam Reinig takes over (formerly C. Sartorius)
Roughly forty years after the founding, the business passed to Adam Reinig and became known as Reinig OHG (often styled in records as “A. Reinig, formerly C. Sartorius”). The continuity of the Sartorius name mattered: it signaled to customers that the longstanding Seltersweg shop—and its reputation—remained intact even as ownership changed.
Note on the legal form “OHG”: in German commercial law, an OHG (Offene Handelsgesellschaft) is a general partnership. It indicates that the business was operated as a partnership in which the personally liable partners typically bore full liability for the firm’s obligations.

c. 1910: Wilhelm Georg becomes managing director
Around 1910, Wilhelm Georg replaced Adam Reinig as the shop’s managing director. Later address‑book listings describe Wilhelm Georg as both a master cutler (Messerschmiedemeister) and an optician, and they connect him to ownership of the firm identity “Adam Reinig, formerly C. Sartorius.” That combination—cutlery plus optics—helped keep the Seltersweg business relevant as consumer demand changed.

1914: A trade‑exhibition snapshot of what the shop made
The 1914 Gießen trade exhibition provides one of the clearest period snapshots of what the Reinig shop wanted the public to know. An official award record states that the firm based at Seltersweg 30—formerly called “C. Sartorius”—was owned by Adam Reinig and W. Georg.
By the early 20th century, Adam Reinig is explicitly described as a cutler/knife‑smith (Messerschmied). The same 1914 record preserves the firm’s marketing claim about a wide range of hand‑forged knives made in its own workshop: pocket knives, hunting knives, gardener’s knives, shoemaker’s knives, slaughter/butchery knives, and carving knives, plus cutlery/flatware and other steel goods. The award note further records that the medal was granted on the recommendation of the exhibition jury, tying Adam Reinig directly to knife‑smithing in Gießen.

1914–1918: World War I pressures
World War I (1914–1918) put immediate pressure on German cities: shortages, rationing, and disrupted supply chains affected both raw materials and finished goods. For a steel‑goods shop and workshop, obtaining quality steel and keeping skilled labor in place could become a constant problem, even when demand for practical items remained.

1925–1926: Adam Reinig’s final years and death
By the mid‑1920s, Adam Reinig was no longer active in day‑to‑day management. A 1925 address book entry described him as a pensioner (retired) living at Seltersweg 30 (2nd floor). A death listing published in the Gießener Anzeiger (issue dated 20 May 1926) records: “14. Adam Reinig, Messerschmiedemeister, 82 years old, Seltersweg 30.” In context, the “14” corresponds to 14 May 1926, establishing his date of death as 14 May 1926.

In this same period, the long‑standing shop identity “A. Reinig formerly C. Sartorius” continued under Wilhelm Georg. Directory notes describe Wilhelm Georg as the owner and name Therese Georg as an authorized signatory (Prokuristin) for the firm, both associated with Seltersweg 30—formal signing authority within the Wilhelm Georg era (Several formal online documents confirm that Therese Hess Georg was his wife).

1939–1945: World War II, destruction, and the need to rebuild
By the World War II era, the stakes rose sharply. Gießen suffered heavy air raids late in the war; large portions of the city were destroyed in 1944. The Seltersweg area, as part of the dense city center, was exposed to the same risks—damage to buildings, loss of inventory, and long interruptions to normal trade. A darker wartime detail also touches Gießen directly: sources note that a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp system operated in the city during the Second World War. The scale of physical destruction was extreme—estimates commonly cited are that about three‑quarters of Gießen was destroyed by bombing in 1944, including much of the historic building stock.
After the war, U.S. forces reached Gießen in early April 1945. The postwar years were defined by reconstruction, restarting local commerce, and rebuilding customer trust. In the family’s narrative, Wilhelm Georg witnessed the destruction of his business and property during the war, and the firm’s survival depended on rebuilding and re‑starting trade in a damaged city center.


1949: A family partnership revives and expands the business
In 1949—one year before his death, according to the Waffen‑Reinig history—Wilhelm Georg helped revive and expand the business again under a partnership arrangement with his family. The partners named are his daughters Elisabeth Schwan and Änne (Anne) Betz and their husbands Georg Schwan (a master mechanic) and Alfred Betz (a master cutler).

This partnership story is also where the later family structure becomes clearest: Wilhelm Georg had two daughters, and their marriages created two distinct, long‑running service lines under the broader Reinig/Sartorius legacy.

[list]Daughter 1: Änne Georg → married Alfred Betz (master cutler) → Betz → Nohl line (service line: jewelry / goldsmithing and related retail).[/list]

[list]Daughter 2: Elisabeth Georg → married Georg Schwan → Schwan line (service line: Waffen‑Reinig sporting goods: hunting, optics, weapons and related cutlery/steel goods).[/list]

1950s–1970s: Craft and retail continue (Betz → Nohl)
In practice, the post‑war Reinig house developed into two complementary tracks. Änne Betz built out the jewelry department inside the Reinig shop, and that jewelry‑and‑craft focus became the core of the later Nohl family identity as the business rebranded under the Nohl surname. Their daughter, Bärbel Betz, became a master goldsmith. She married Werner Nohl, who also trained as a cutler, and together they took over the family business. A 1972 photo caption in the Nohl narrative places Alfred Betz, Werner Nohl, and members of the next generation at the grindstone—evidence that the workshop craft remained central even as the retail offer evolved.

Randall knives in Europe via Nohl
As the Nohl branch matured, it also became a bridge between Gießen and an American name that collectors recognize immediately. A ZEISS hunting profile recounts that during travels in Florida, Thomas Nohl met Gary Randall and later received exclusive distribution rights for Europe for Randall knives (ZEISS blog: https://blogs.zeiss.com/sports-optics/h ... ng-knives/).
Nohl’s own site reinforces this dealer-and-distributor role in practical terms: its dedicated Randall page lists the shop address as Seltersweg 26, 35390 Gießen and presents Randall as part of the lineup (Nohl Randall page: https://nohl-messer.de/randall/).
This also confirms the original firm being run by Wilhelm Georg sold Zeiss eyewear, and possibly other optics.

1997: The Schwan line moves and Waffen-Reinig continues
In parallel with the jewelry line, Elisabeth Georg appears as Elisabeth Schwan in the weapons/optics story. The Waffen‑Reinig narrative describes a later turning point: in 1997 the business moved from Seltersweg to nearby Löwengasse under master gunsmith Klaus Schwan and his son Rainer Schwan (a gunsmith and businessman). After the move, the Waffen‑Reinig line continued with a focus on weapons, optics, hunting accessories, and hunting clothing, with the gunsmith’s workshop located above the shop. http://www.waffen-reinig.de/info/Waffen-Reinig.html

Seltersweg 26 vs Seltersweg 30 (why the sources differ)
Different records attach the business to Seltersweg 30 (notably the 1914 trade‑exhibition award note and the 1927 address‑book extracts) and to Seltersweg 26 (notably the modern Nohl narrative, which states that the business moved from Seltersweg 26—now noted as a Tchibo location—to Löwengasse 6 in 1997). The most practical interpretation is that the shop’s Seltersweg presence persisted while the exact street number changed over time, through relocation within Seltersweg, renumbering, and/or post‑war reconstruction.

The business today
Today, Waffen‑Reinig presents itself as a continuation of this Seltersweg heritage—now operating from Löwengasse. The shop markets a broad hunting and outdoor assortment (rifles, optics, knives, and related equipment), while the craft tradition remains visible through the in‑house gunsmithing workshop and the long family succession that ties the modern business to Sartorius, Reinig, Georg, and the Schwan generation.

Timeline (high‑confidence milestones)
• 1812 – Johann Sartorius founds the shop in Seltersweg, Gießen.
• Mid‑19th century – Adam Reinig takes over; firm becomes “A. Reinig, formerly C. Sartorius” / Reinig OHG.
• c. 1910 – Wilhelm Georg becomes managing director.
• 1914 – Adam Reinig linked to 1914 Gießen trade exhibition; firm advertises hand‑forged knives made in‑house.
• 1926 – Adam Reinig dies in May at the age of 82, listed as Messerschmiedemeister; residence/address noted as Seltersweg 30. Rodtberg Cemetery
• 1944 – Gießen city center heavily destroyed during WWII (more than 70% of the city destroyed in 1944, per city materials).
• 1949 – Partnership revival with daughters Elisabeth Schwan and Änne Betz and their husbands Georg Schwan and Alfred Betz.
• 1950 – Wilhelm Georg dies. An exact date was not found.
• 1997 – Move from Seltersweg to Löwengasse; Waffen‑Reinig continues under Klaus Schwan and Rainer Schwan; Nohl branch adopts the name Gold‑ und Messerschmiede Nohl (per Nohl narrative).


Sources used
• Waffen‑Reinig.de, “Das Unternehmen / Waffen‑Reinig” (company history). Accessed February 21, 2026.
• Alljagd Händler Portal, “Waffen Reinig” dealer profile (company history excerpt). Accessed February 21, 2026.
• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ordenskunde (DGOWP), Dr. Lars Adler compilation: “Verleih_Liste_Staatsmedaille_Hessen_Adler.pdf” (entry for Adam Reinig, Gießen 1914).
• Hessisches Wirtschaftsarchiv (Arcinsys), case file title: “Adam Reinig, vorm. Sartorius, Stahlwaren‑ und Waffengeschäft, Gießen” (HWA, 6, 6238).
• Gießen Address Book (1927) extracts as provided (Seltersweg listing; Wilhelm Georg listed as Messerschmiedemeister und Optiker; Adam Reinig listed under weapon dealers).
• City of Gießen / tourism materials describing WWII destruction in 1944 (more than 70% of the city destroyed).
• Nohl family narrative text provided by the user (history and succession, relocation in 1997, later updates).
• Photos of Wilhelm and Therese Hess Georg were provided by historical documents found at https://arcinsys.hessen.de.
• HStAD, H 3 Giessen, 85165
• HStAD, H 3 Giessen, 85164

[New_Windsor_NY]

Very recently, this pocket knife arrived in a group or lot of pocket knives that I bought. It now becomes my most recent example to be posted under this topic or thread. I did NOT buy the group or lot of pocket knives to obtain this particular pocket knife. However, it DEFINITELY turned out to be a keeper. It did get added to my general, pocket knife accumulation. It is a GRIFFON XX, two blades, four tang stamps, 3 1/8" closed, one spring, pocket knife. The main blade front tang stamp says, "griffon (written, underlined) (over) XX (over) B' PORT. CT." The main blade back tang stamp is the image of a "Griffon" The secondary blade front tang stamp says, "griffon (written, underlined) (over) XX (over) B' PORT. CT." The secondary blade back tang stamp is the image of a "Griffon" The main blade does have a GOOD half stop. The main blade does have a GOOD opening snap. The main blade does have a VERY GOOD closing snap. The secondary blade does have a GOOD half stop. The secondary blade does have a GOOD opening snap. The secondary blade does have a VERY GOOD closing snap. Despite having a hairline fracture in the one handle or scale, this pocket knife is still in VERY GOOD condition. This pocket knife did NOT require any cleaning at all. 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.

[PA Knives]

This is a great thread. Here is my latest. In my more than 50 years of loving old knives, I came across this last week. As many know, my main focus, although I often wonder, has been on knives associated with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Thus, the pearl lobster pattern was made in Germany for the G W Fischer jewelry store in Sharon, PA. It took me a while to find any reference. If anyone has info, please share. Sadly, in excitement to open the blades upon arrival in the mail, it slipped from my hand and hit the floor, and I found a crack in the pearl. It upset me, but I still have a pretty nice antique to study. Stupid old fingers anyways. It has a lovely etch on the handle with the owner's initials No doubt a lady of privilege own this beauty.

[Miller Bro's]

Congrats David, very nice find!

[Waukonda]

This is a great thread. Here is my latest. In my more than 50 years of loving old knives, I came across this last week. As many know, my main focus, although I often wonder, has been on knives associated with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Thus, the pearl lobster pattern was made in Germany for the G W Fischer jewelry store in Sharon, PA. It took me a while to find any reference. If anyone has info, please share. Sadly, in excitement to open the blades upon arrival in the mail, it slipped from my hand and hit the floor, and I found a crack in the pearl. It upset me, but I still have a pretty nice antique to study. Stupid old fingers anyways. It has a lovely etch on the handle with the owner's initials No doubt a lady of privilege own this beauty.

That is one cool old knife, congratulations, a very nice addition for you! Are there no additional tang stamps, other than the one closeup?