Strange Sea Scout Marlin Spike

[AllenMcB]

I recently received a wonderful Sea Scout style knife as a gift. It is 3 3/4" closed, with a 2 1/2" main blade, and a 3" marlin spike. The handle scales are wood, with a banner style shield having the words "SCOUT KNIFE". It has unlined bolsers, and a permanent belt shackle.

Here are the oddities: The main blade isn't etched, it's heavily engraved with the words "SCOUT KNIF". There is no "E" on the word knife, nor has there ever been. It's just not there. The main blade tang, on one side, is stamped "FORGED STEEL FOREIGN",and on the other side, it's just stamped"FOREIGN". There's no indicator of a maker's name anywhere on this well used and well made sea knife.

If you can shed any light on this, I'd love to hear from you.

(Edit to add: This is certainly an unofficial Scout knife, at least from the BSA standpoint. Mr. Joseph Kerr's excellent book on Scout knives includes unofficial knives, but not this one. I am perplexed.)

[Owd Wullie]

It's cool looking. The lack of the "e" in the word knife leads me to think it's probably a "knock off".

By whom. or from where, or when is beyond my knowledge.

[AllenMcB]

It's cool looking. The lack of the "e" in the word knife leads me to think it's probably a "knock off".

By whom. or from where, or when is beyond my knowledge.

The general construction and quality reminds me of knives from the 1930's and 1940's, but I'm puzzled as to why a knife would be marked "FOREIGN" on the tang. Curious, indeed. The "E" is missing on the blade, but not on the shield. I'd love to see this identified.

[Froggyedge]

Knif..?
Foreign..?
Interesting - and very strange!

[Owd Wullie]

I've seen mis-spellings of English Sheffield knives that came out of India during that time frame.

I've never seen one marked "FOREIGN" though. It is rather humorous if you think about it.

[Miller Bro's]

The general construction and quality reminds me of knives from the 1930's and 1940's, but I'm puzzled as to why a knife would be marked "FOREIGN" on the tang. Curious, indeed. The "E" is missing on the blade, but not on the shield. I'd love to see this identified.

I would say it is an old English scout knife.
Some knives imported from outside of England after 1925 were marked "Foreign".
I would date this knife from 1925-40.
It could have been manufactured in the U.S. or Germany.

The main blade isn't etched, it's heavily engraved with the words "SCOUT KNIF". There is no "E" on the word knife, nor has there ever been. It's just not there.

The blade is not engraved, it is stamped, as far as the "E" missing, the stamp could have been worn out or broken, or it could be there but be very lightly stamped as is often the case with old hand stamped blades.

The Boy Scouts were started in 1907-08 in England, then spread to the rest of the world. There is a very interesting link below which gives the history of the scouts in England from its inception till today. Take some time and read it.

http://www.scoutbase.org.uk/library/history/

Nice knife Allen

[knife7knut]

I would go with the idea that the,"E" was probably a light stamping and was eradicated by wear of the blade.The profile is actually quite smaller than it started out.The exposed pivot rivets seem to indicate a knife of German manufacture and that is supported by the use of the word,"foreign" stamped on the tang.I have several knives in my collection with that stamping and on multiple blade knives at least one of the small blades is further stamped with the letter,"R" which I have yet to find the meaning.I believe this was required on knives imported into the USA beginning some time in the 1920's.Looks like it was pretty nice knife in it's day.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Actually, Goins lists a stamp as RICARDO FOREIGN C.C. (I assume the "C.C." means "Cutlery Company".

No other information as to country, dates, etc.

Have no idea if the marking on the Sea Scout knife might be a variation of that stamp.

Isn't the spelling "KNIF" correct for certain middle European and/or Scandinavian languages?

MB is probably correct, though. He almost always is.

Charlie Noyes

[Froggyedge]

Charlie,
Knife is kniv in both Norwegian, Swedish and Danish, so the Scandinavians at least are not to blame, and not the Finnish either.

I tried to google "knif" to find out what, if anything it is. Didn't get any wiser really. Most hits seem to be misspellings, but Knif also seems to be a surname...
The most spooky hit was "Nanyang City Color Knif Factory, China."

It was really just a matter of time... Now the Chinese are making knifs too!

[AllenMcB]

I would say it is an old English scout knife.
Some knives imported from outside of England after 1925 were marked "Foreign".
I would date this knife from 1925-40.
It could have been manufactured in the U.S. or Germany.

So, knives made outside the UK, but intended for England, were marked "FOREIGN"? I've been puzzling over that since the day I received this. It also seems odd to me that they would make the effort to stamp both sides of the tang with the word 'FOREIGN".

Since all the lettering is in English (assuming the KNIF stamp was just a bad stamping and should have read KNIFE), I'm assuming it was intended for an English speaking nation. The BSA began the Sea Scout program in 1912, so this logically could have been imported to meet the needs of BSA Sea Scouts.

I think it's also a curiosity due as much as to what's missing as to what's there. No manufacturer's name or stamp is not all that unusual, but all companies that produced official Scout knives marked their name on the knives, and all unofficial knives I've seen (up until now) did the same.

Thanks for all you insights. The hunt continues.......

[azoroszadam]

Hi!

I'm from Hungary, and I also found a 'FOREIGN' stamped penknife.
It has eight functions.
I tried to find some information on the internet, and I found these:

Its very similar to the first one:
...Top row 3 piece Lot 157: Pocket knife Carl Schmidt & Shon...

http://www.gurleyauctions.com/march1,2009photos4.htm

Here is another 'FOREIGN':
...Knife #16: 'Foreign' Knife, Tang stamped with 'Foreign'...


http://www.gbenson.co.uk/georgesknifesi ... known.html

I'll try to send some photos...

[AllenMcB]

I'll try to send some photos...

The tang stamp on the green one does look a lot like mine.

The group of knives above that one; one has a SAK shield, and one has a Swiss maid on it with the word "Floda". Floda is a town in Switzerland.

So, could it be this is of Swiss origin?

[azoroszadam]

Here are the photos of my "FOREIGN"...

[azoroszadam]

And a very similar one: