Genuine Tortoiseshell Southington Congress Value

[Another Knife Collector]

I am considering selling my Southington congress, but honestly don't know what this sort of thing goes for, anyone have any ideas? I don't particularly want to sell it but if it's worth it I'll let it go. Good snap, no chips or cracks in genuine tortoise handles. Thank you!

[LongBlade]

Tough question Another Knife Collector and a maker I would consider... The blades have no doubt seen a fair amount of sharpening - just my own guess and I can be wrong but the master may have originally been a sheepsfoot blade... are you sure the scales are tortoise? - sort of looks like they can possibly be tortoise-like celluloid ... I again may be wrong but the surface scratches remind me more of celluloid scales... Not a $10 and not an $75 knife either in my opinion... but my guess is definitely less than $50...

Recently I have seen some crazy prices on knives on eBay that I am not sure reflect value at all but just bidding wars between folks with a vendetta ... quill knives going for well over $100... just not what I have seen or close to what I have seen as a value in the past for a few particular makers...

[Another Knife Collector]

Thanks for the input Longblade, and honestly that was the answer I was hoping for, at that sort of price I won't feel guilty keeping it I am 100% confident it is genuine tortoiseshell though, I won't keep any celluloid knives because of their instability, so I touched it with a red hot nail, and had no reaction.

[btrwtr]

I think LongBlade is right on. The knife has a great name and the tortoise handles are a plus. Size and condition are working against the pluses. The right buyer might be in the $50 range but not a wide appeal for smaller knives like this. Nice piece of early USA knife history. Goins says c. 1867-1905.

I've never used the hot pin test on handles. If you can't tell by looking I've found that vigorously rubbing the handles on a course fabric like denim will give off a camphor odor if celluloid. Not necessarily the best method but non-destructive and will shine the handles up a bit too.

Wayne