Trying to find some info on a pocket knife I inherited

[Jayritt]

Hey ya’ll! New to the group! I recently inherited a box of old pocket knives my grandfather collected on his travels while in the navy. One in particular seems pretty interesting and Im trying to find more information on it. Was hoping someone on this forum might be able to help me. Ive attached somw images. TIA!

[Mumbleypeg]

Welcome to AAPK. Winterthur is a city in Switzerland. Looks like a tourist souvenir knife. Stadhaus is German for city hall, Technikum is probably some kind of school. Jonas Furrur was a Swiss politician.

Ken

[Jody744]

Very cool knife, especially since you inherited it. The bird logo on the tang should lead to a manufacturer hopefully. Since it has 2 blade and one spring, I recommend only opening one blade at a time part way. You don’t want the spring to break by having both blades open partway. Welcome to AAPK, looking forward to more pics of more old knives!

[btrwtr]

Your knife was made by Robert Klaas of Germany. The two birds on the small blade tang is Robert Klaas's Kissing Crane logo.

[deo-pa]

The knife tang stamp is F. Kienast Zurich and the knife handle references Winterthur, which is not far from the city of Zurich and part of the Zurich Canton (which is the Swiss equivalent of a U.S. state).

I found this old ad for the F. Kienast company which was located in Winterthur. If you translate the German you find that F. Kienast made masonry tools. Perhaps it was made by Klass as an advertising knife for the company. Normally you would expect the company name to be on the handle but maybe the images (city hall, statue, university), which are all stone structures, was enough to make the point. Interesting to speculate.

Dennis

[kootenay joe]

Dennis you are becoming the # 1 "Information Finder". I don't do that well with online searches so i am grateful to you for the time and skill you donate to these discoveries. Not my thread, but, Thank You Dennis, GFM (Google Foo Master)
kj

[deo-pa]

Thanks but not yet a master Roland, maybe a green belt. I enjoy the chase and sometimes I get lucky

Dennis

[deo-pa]

By the way, the coat of arms on one end is the COA for Winterthur. See https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldryw ... Winterthur

Dennis