A fruit knife, or something else?

[Another Knife Collector]

Picked up this knife, interestingly it has a nickel blade and is marked REIN-NICKEL, German for PURE-NICKEL, I've only ever seen nickel bladed fruit knives before. With no bolsters or decoration and wood handles, albiet pretty wood, this sure doesn't look like any other fruit knife I've encountered. It does have milled liners though. The markings are interesting, being in German there is a chance it was meant for domestic consumption, and most nickel bladed fruit knives I've seen have some sort of fake hallmark pretending to be sterling, wheras this one announces its non silver material. Despite the unusual aspects for such a thing the only possible use I can determine is indeed as a fruit knife. Anyone have any ideas?

[Froggyedge]

Hm...
Definitely not for chopping down trees!
I've never seen anything quite like it, but a Melon Tester comes to mind...
What's the closed length?

[gino]

I agree with Froggy a melon tester. Thats what came to mind when I saw it.

[Joe Dirt]

Pertaining to the blade stamp, this is an excerpt from "encyclopedia.com", on German silver.
As for the era this was enforced ?

German silver name for various alloys of copper, zinc, and nickel, sometimes also containing lead and tin. They were originally named for their silver-white color, but use of the term silver is now prohibited for alloys not containing that metal.

................ Joe

[tjmurphy]

Well, if it is marked "Rein-Nickel" and "Rein-Nickel" means pure nickel, then it's not nickel-silver, right? Looks like a fruit or melon knife to me.

[jerryd6818]

Or since it's German, a sausage knife?

[Another Knife Collector]

Thanks for the input everyone! It measures a bit under 3 1/2 inches.

Well, if it is marked "Rein-Nickel" and "Rein-Nickel" means pure nickel, then it's not nickel-silver, right? Looks like a fruit or melon knife to me.

Yup, that's what I meant, I don't know why I said nickel-silver, I guess I'm just used to things being nickel-silver in relation to knives.

[Froggyedge]

Thanks for the input everyone! It measures a bit under 3 1/2 inches.

Well, if it is marked "Rein-Nickel" and "Rein-Nickel" means pure nickel, then it's not nickel-silver, right? Looks like a fruit or melon knife to me.

Yup, that's what I meant, I don't know why I said nickel-silver, I guess I'm just used to things being nickel-silver in relation to knives.

Hmmm...
That's very short for a Melon Tester...