Help identifying German knife

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Bluesman111
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Help identifying German knife

Post by Bluesman111 »

I just started collecting pocket folding knives. I picked up this interesting one at a flea market recently and hope someone can give me some information about it. Stamped at the base of the main blade is: "R V CO, Germany"
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orvet
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Re: Help identifying German knife

Post by orvet »

::welcome:: to AAPK!
I am not an expert on German knives, but the name on the knife is probably the name of the company that the knife was made for, or perhaps the distributor.

It is called a lobster pattern.

There are many people here who know more about German knives than I do. Hopefully one of them will be along soon and can answer your question.

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Bluesman111
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Re: Help identifying German knife

Post by Bluesman111 »

Thanks for your response. It makes sense that this knife may have been manufactured in Germany for an American company, since "Co[mpany] is stamped on the blade. Forgot the German for that word, but I think it's usually abreviated something like "Gmbt". It also may be a promotional knife, designed to be given out as a "gentleman's grooming tool" (two pen knife blades and a nail file/nail cleaner tool.) I'm beginning to think this knife collecting can be fun!
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Re: Help identifying German knife

Post by kootenay joe »

What you have is one of the most commonly seen of post WW II German knives. They come with a variety of metal handles all having intricate designs 'embossed' ? on the surface. They were made for business to hand out, such as Bayer. Many of these business have head office in Switzerland or Germany, but large USA businesses also bought them.
I don't know which German knife manufacturers made them. Until the 1980's there were a great many knife manufacturing businesses in Solingen, Germany. Moreover, the handle pieces were made by a manufacturer specializing in making knife handles and selling them to the knife manufacturers. Hence finding the exact same pattern on the handles of 2 knives does not mean they were made by same manufacturer.
I have a variety of these knives. All are well made. They are fun to collect because they are fairly common, so easy to find, and they usually sell for low amounts (under $30)
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Re: Help identifying German knife

Post by Bluesman111 »

Thanks for the new information. I was impressed by the intricacy of the design "embossed" (?) on the knife and its quality construction. For that reason, I seem to be inclined to German and English manfactured knives (as well, of course, as American.) Both pen knife blades are in very good condition, as is the nail file/cleaner "blade". In fact, it has at least for the time being replaced my mini-Swiss army knife in my pocket for daily carrying around. I guess I paid a good price--$30 for it and a good quality pen knife with MOP handles. The same day, I bought a small (3" closed) but very nice CRKC (Columbia River Knife Co.) toothpick knife for $22. I later learned they sold for $17.95 new in the 70s. So, one of the fun things about collecting pocket knives is that even when you pay a little more than you should for one knife, you can offset the loss oftentimes by bargains you get with other knives.
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just bob
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Re: Help identifying German knife

Post by just bob »

I only have a small reference book and there is no R V Co. listed in it. I enlarged your photo and it looks as if there is a triangle with wording in it and Solingen is underneath that. Can you post a better picture of your tang stamp? Someone with a Goins reference book might be able to pick up on it?
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just bob
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Re: Help identifying German knife

Post by just bob »

Better pic. My bad
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Bluesman111
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Re: Help identifying German knife

Post by Bluesman111 »

Here are some additional shots of the triangle brand stamp, the stamp on the opposite side of the main blade's base reading "rostfrei"(stainless) and "Germany". In incidentally, I Googled "R V Co" but came up with no useful information.
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Re: Help identifying German knife

Post by Paladin »

I looked in Goins and found nothing under RV Co. Not exactly sure where you get RV in relation the the triangle stamp shown in the photos??
Also, no one has mentioned but the design on that lobster is called Toledo. :)

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Re: Help identifying German knife

Post by terryl308 »

Looks more like a "A" or a "Q" to me,with a "Z", but still haven't got any info for you. Pretty much looked all through Goins book but no results. ::shrug:: Terry
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Bluesman111
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Re: Help identifying German knife

Post by Bluesman111 »

Hey, I'm the total newby here, so glad to hear others ' insights. Seemed to look like an "R" to me, but admittedly that might have been because I saw the R on the other blade. Of course, that may just as likely mean "Rostfrei."
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Re: Help identifying German knife

Post by kootenay joe »

The "R" & "Rostfrei" in the identical font is seen on most of these Toledo style lobster knives. "Toledo" refers to this type of metal handle.
I have not seen that triangle logo before even though i have been collecting German knives for decades.
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Re: Help identifying German knife

Post by philco »

Unless I'm going plumb blind, the tang stamp reads "A F Co"

I'm thinking that is a tang stamp for Abercrombie & Fitch. They had made knives made in Solingen, Germany. There's a listing in Goin's for A & F Co.
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Re: Help identifying German knife

Post by knife7knut »

The mark is R Z Co. The line through the middle of the Z is used mostly in the military to indicate "Zulu" time which is another name for Greenwich Mean Time. It can also be used to differentiate the letter Z from the numeral 7.
I haven't seen that mark before but a lot of marks seem to be housed in a triangle.
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just bob
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Re: Help identifying German knife

Post by just bob »

That is interesting I have stared at that tang stamp until I'm dizzy and still see A Z. I don't see an R. I thought that maybe it wasn't a triangle but a pyramid and the Z stood for Zenith, but didn't have any luck running that down. What does the R stand for? I don't see any knives like this when you search Google for R Z Co knives. Surely there are more of these out there?
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Re: Help identifying German knife

Post by kootenay joe »

It is a knife similar to the OP knife(but marked Wusthoff) that began my life as a knife collector. My aunt from Switzerland came by boat to visit us in Montreal when i was 12 (58 years ago) and she bought the knife in the ship's gift shop. Since then i have acquired about 20 Toledo style lobster knives. I will search for these and see if any have the same markings as OP knife. I do not have these stored together so it is fair search to go through all knives, but now is a good time to group them together in the same storage case. I'll be back with pictures in a few daze.
kj
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