Old broke Townley, Kansas City

[TigerWolf_Rosebud]

I received this old knife from a 10 knife lot that I won off eBay. Is there anyone that has any info on this Townley brand? Maybe age?

[BWT]

Goins list them as a hardware company at 3rd st and Walnut, Kansas City, MO. 1884 to present day. Hope that helps. Bill

[supratentorial]

Pattern is a very desirable 5 blade "sowbelly" (a modern collector term for a stockman with a curvy handle). Difficult to know the age from the book dates since they are apparently still in business. Based on the construction of the knife and the pattern, I'd guess your knife is from the 20s or 40s but it's just a guess. I previously posted a lot of catalog cuts for the sowbelly pattern (see link). They'll give you an idea of how I made that guess. Also, the synthetic handles factored into that guess.
viewtopic.php?t=51574 . The earliest catalog example of a sowbelly (that I've seen) is around 1910. Lots of examples are from the 1920s. The pattern all but disappeared after that time. Shapleigh still sold the pattern in the 40s. Queen started making them again in the 1980s.