Wimberly - Thomas Hardware Birmingham, Alabama

[RobesonsRme.com]

Wimberly - Thomas Hardware was one of three local Birmingham jobber firms, along with Moore - Handley and Long - Lewis.

Moore - Handley became Home Crafters and I think that firm is still in business.

Long - Lewis evolved into a Ford dealership and are still in business, doing quite well.

Wimberly - Thomas existed from 1900 until 1944. Their large painted logo remained on their building on the Southside of Birmingham for many years, might still be there. I'll have to check.

All three of these firms sold knives. Moore - Handley knives are frequently found. I have one and bought and sold three mint etched examples a couple of years ago. They were in my possession less than two days.

I've never seen a Long-Lewis marked knife, but the Ford dealership has photos of the old hardware showroom with many pocketknives displayed on boxes in a wood and glass display case. Maybe they were other known brands.

I have a nice Wimberly-Thomas razor and box. A local dealer/collector has shown me a Wimberly - Thomas stamped bone handled English jack in NKCA "good" condition. He has stated it is the only one he's ever seen. An AAPK member posted a coke bottle folding hunter here in 2011 with a Wimberly - Thomas stamp and I saw a similar, if not the same, knife on Ebay about the same time.

There are avid collectors of Birmingham hardware marked knives in this area.

So, when I came across this one on Ebay this past week, I bookmarked it and made a bid last evening just before auction's close.

I won it, but it wasn't cheap. There was only one other bidder.

The knife is not great, but nice. There's some blade wear. One pearl handle is cracked.

But, there's a beautiful deep etch on the master. It's a four bladed, pearl handled gentleman's pocket knife.

I consider this an extremely rare stamp.

I will not be surprised if it turns out to be a German import, although the seller did not mention that.

Estimated delivery is this coming Friday, but I'm quite sure the holiday is going to kick that into next week.

I'm speculating on this and my plans are to roll this over to one of the local collectors.

These are auction photos:

Charlie Noyes

[knife7knut]

Great history lesson Charlie! Beautiful little knife.

[Miller Bro's]

Very nice Charlie

Does not looked German made to me.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Thanks, Ray and Dimitri.
Now, I'll be very surprised if it turns out to be German.
I cannot afford to keep this, so I'll be offering it to someone here in town soon after I get it.
I'll just keep the photos.
Charlie

[philco]

That's a really cool little knife with some interesting history.

[wlf]

Now, I'll be very surprised if it turns out to be German.
Charlie

Nice gleaning of the auction you big Capitalist.That etch will help you out.

[peanut740]

Charlie that is some etch.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Just imagine how it must have looked when new.

Charlie

[Old Hunter]

Charlie, that is a very nice example of a hardware jobbers etch - nicest one I have seen. I did business with Moore-Handley for many years; they had dealers in eastern NC until they crashed in the recession in 2008. I still bump into the fellow who was their eastern NC rep for many years. A history of all the jobbers would be pretty cool. I hope you do well with your flip. OH

[galvanic1882]

Great Charlie!!! Yes that etch when new would have been something but it still looks great now!!

[RobesonsRme.com]

Knife arrived today. Very rapid shipping. I was surprised.
Looks good too. Seller and his photos were accurate.
Charlie

[Iron Hoarder]

That looks more English than German to me. The patina pattern/color isn't right for German. Nice knife

[Colonel26]

Very nice.

[RobesonsRme.com]

I have found no country of origin on the knife.

However, the abbreviation for "Company" in the stamp on every blade is done thusly,
"Co.", with the "o" slightly above the bottom of the other letters.

When I see that line under only a lower case "o" in "Co.", I think "German".

Maybe the English did that too.

This is most likely a post 1891 knife, given the history of Wimberly & Thomas, circa 1903 to 1920's, so it should have a country of origin stamped on it if foreign made. Levine does say their "predecessor" was established in 1887, but I do not know the name of that one. Probably not Wimberly & Thomas, though.

The brass liners are "coined". Sweet little knife.

Charlie Noyes