Letter Opener Knives

[knife7knut]

This is an adjunct of knife collecting that has seen relatively little interest for some strange reason.I first became acquainted with it when a friend of mine gave me a small Imperial letter opener knife with brass handles and a celluloid insert on one side with advertising on it. This was many years ago and since then I have accumulated about 2 hundred letter openers of various styles.BUT I CAN QUIT ANY TIME!!!

They come in a variety of styles and quality,but most of the ones I go for now are made by Ariel,Parisian Novelty,Novelty Cutlery,PAL,and Remington.Most were used as advertising gimmicks and given to valued customers.
Here are some examples:

First is a Parisian Novelty Co. These were mostly metal handled but I have a couple that have a plastic like overlay on them that contains the advertising.A lot had a replica of the customer's signature on one side.Nice for counterfeiters to copy.


Next is an Aerial Cutlery Co. with pearl celluloid handles and a Masonic emblem attached.From what I understand,when Aerial knives were a hot collectible,people would get these and cut off the letter opener blade and pass them off as regular pocket knives.Same with Remingtons.

Next is an Ambassador.This one is slightly smaller than the first two and uses an inlaid celluloid scale on a brass liner.Ambassador made pocket knives as well;most notably the little 2 blade circular ones.

Next is another Ariel advertising Andis Clipper Co.;makers of nail and hair clippers dated Christmas 1965.Must have been an employee gift.They are still in business today.

Next one is a bit unusual.The handle is a piece of extruded aluminum channel and the blade slides within it.There is a set screw on the back(use a coin to loosen and tighten)to allow either the letter opener blade or the other end which is a box cutter type blade to be exposed.

Next is a REALLY unusual one:A letter opener that has a so-called,"funny folder"knife on one end.First one I've ever seen.Not sure what the notch on the handle is for.

Next is a brass handled one with a fancy Celtic design on one side.Don't remember if this one is a Remington or not,but Remington made this style.Blade has a ruler engraved into it.

Last one for now is a letter opener/scissors combination that operates like a Barry Wood folder:Lift the handle and rotate the assembly around and a pin engages at 180 degrees and opens the blade.Continue around the full 360 degrees and the handle pin drops back into the frame and the blade is fully open.Both blade and scissors operate the same.

All for now.I'll have some more to put up later.

[upnorth]

Gee Knifeknut, you must get a lot of mail !
Nice collection!! I was tempted to collect them also, but Schrades won out (you can't collect everything!), so I traded mine away. More for you!

[knife7knut]

Gee Knifeknut, you must get a lot of mail !
Nice collection!! I was tempted to collect them also, but Schrades won out (you can't collect everything!), so I traded mine away. More for you!

More mail than my wife likes . It is strange how just one little old piece can morph into several drawers full! BUT I CAN QUIT ANY TIME!

Here's a few more pieces.One of the more unusual ones is the scalloped blade on the Remington.Never seen another yet.There's a couple Schrades in there too somewhere.There are a few more drawers with other letter openers in them.One of my favorites is one made of green malachite from Peru.Came in it's own leather bag.Others include ones of antler,various types of stone,and even one made from a piece of shrapnel that fell on London during WWII.Another neat one has a brass torpedo for a handle and was presented to a guy who served on a submarine in WWII.Then there is one made from a huge nail and another made from seamless aircraft tubing;the list goes on forever.
The last one isn't really a letter opener but rather a palette knife for dispensing pills.The advertising is for Tums antacid pills.

[justold52]

Kool do you have any YELLOW ones ? ..

[knife7knut]

Kool do you have any YELLOW ones ? ..

YELLOW as in GOLD or YELLOW as in IVORY?