Help identifying a vintage pocket knife

[mashwell]

knife 2.jpg (12.26 KiB) Viewed 749 times

Hoping that I could get some help from you guys identifying an old pocket knife that has been in my family for a while. The blade makers logo appears to be the letter P crossed with the letter J and may be stamped on the front of a hat or helmet (I have included a close up of it). The other side of the blade appears to have the word "foreign" etched in it. Both are hard to fully make out as the handle obscures the bottom half of both. Its about 3" long and the handle is completely stag horn (no mettle insert). Its a great little pocket knife that I plan on keeping but wanted to know if I could get some history on it.

[Treasure Trawler]

Good looking knife! No idea maker...will be following to see if anyone knows.

[knife7knut]

Looks to be French made.Typical with the exposed back spring/locking mechanism.Not sure who made it but there is a website that has decoding of old French knife marks;I'll see if I can find the link.TJ Murphy(I think) posted it here awhile back when I was trying to research an old French knife I had.
Is the blade 3" ;ong or is that the length of the whole knife?

[mashwell]

The blade is 2.5" and the entire knife is 3" closed. Here are a few other pictures

[Miller Bro's]

Could you post a larger picture of the tang stamp?

[mashwell]

Here you go...

[mashwell]

Here is the mark on the other side. Part of the word is obscured by the handle. My guess is that it says "foreign"

[tjmurphy]

Here ya go K7K

http://www.couteaux-jfl.com/boite_a_outils.htm

[jerryd6818]

That's a similar locking mechanism as is on the Okapi. Th Okapi was originally made in Germany for their African colonies, starting in the very early 1900s. The trademark was sold in the late 20th century to a South African company and they are now made in South Africa.

I don't know if others (French, Belgians, Italians, etc) used that mechanism.

[Ramrod]

Is that JPL.... or PJ..?
Mark

[jerryd6818]

Mark -- Looks like a stylized JPL to me.

[knife7knut]

Here ya go K7K

http://www.couteaux-jfl.com/boite_a_outils.htm

Thanks again TJ;this time I book marked it.