All About Pocket Knives

two more for this thread i just got. one Car-Van S.P. CO. Canton ,O and a very old 1800's CRooks Bros. SHeffield .. Horn handles

WOW!! Very nice Paul

Man those are two beauties Paul! That Crookes Brothers most certainly is old, 1820-1850. Love the bolster. Where was the Car-Van made. Slim.

Thanks TJ & Slim the car-van was made in Canton Ohio was part of Canton Cutlery. got both knives at AAPK stores

Pretty fancy old WINCHESTER. Both blades brand stamped and number 2908.

JKB,

You gotta love that one.. Thats just a cool frame along with the rat bolsters and awesome bone. Very Nice

BH

WOOF - WOOF Dats K-nice

oh ya thats a keeper ! sweet one JKB

Thanks, I have been to a few shows and never seen one like it>

JKB I think that Winchester definitely fits the "rare" description. Beautiful knife!!!!. Slim.

picked up a J.Ward.......cXs American pocket cutlery ...1913..... not to much info in goins

Paul,
that's one beautiful knife. Very elegant blades. .......... and a box!!!!!

FRJ wrote:Paul,
that's one beautiful knife. Very elegant blades. .......... and a box!!!!!

Joe thanks, got it from Galvanic was very pleased !

I still haven't id'd this completely, but after talking with Joan Ulwin, head archivist at Carver's Hall in Sheffield, I have a better understanding.
The early 1800's in England had a lot of things going on in the labor movement department. There were a few in Sheffield, most notorious was a Spring Knife union that used different tactics to get and keep members. They wanted to make it so all the shops were "closed" meaning you had to be in the Union to make knives or work in the industry. They would even do what they called "rattening" which meant they would steal a guy's tools so he couldn't work until he paid his dues, etc. A few guys were beaten or killed, too.
I'm pretty sure my knife was made by one of the three Taylors i found(John, Francis, or Henry). He probably put "Union" in the title to make sure everybody knew he was a member.
Joan said she never saw that mark before, but Cutlers' Hall would only have records if the guy had business with "the Company" as they called it, which was mainly to register apprentices, and to celebrate an apprentice becoming a Master (freedoms). After 1814 they no longer had to register with Cutlers hall, so only a few a year did after that. They could put any marking they wanted on their blades, as long as they weren't trying to duplicate a registered mark.
I found the Union info looking thru the British National Archives. You can't see too much without requesting copies, but you can read the titles and what the subject was. Searching on "cutler" found a lot of property transfers to and from guys who were listed as cutlers. When you see names like Wilkenson and George Wolstenholm its pretty cool.
It definitely was NOT made by Taylor Eye-Witness.

Nice old one ! Looks like you did your homework, very good info

Great knife & great research!
Thanks for sharing.

Went to a auction yesterday that had "pocket knives" in the listing. This old ugly knife was in the box. Now my other JACK KNIFE BEN rooster nutter is not lonely.

Great find!
Congrats.

Howdy guys, been so busy lately I had a lot of catching up to do here. Wow.....what a great bunch of knives have been posted in the last couple weeks!! So many brands Ive never seen before. Thanks to all!!! I`ll post a few oddities and see if i can drum up any infor on them above and beyong what I know. Here is the first. The ricasso stamp looks like : F+J+F and below that Primastahl so I assume its an old German office knife.

Here is another: Gonon41 which apparently was made in France

Here is another obscure brand of which I kno nothing other than whats on the ricasso stamp: Kresge Germany. A real pretty little knife that is listed on Ebay and ends tonight I think. Unfortuntaley I need to pay for some hospital bills(just had gall bladder surgery). Uggghhhh.

Here is another oddity. Ricasso stamped on both blades: VANCO
Below that and barely visible is "Indianapolis" so I`m assuming that maybe this was a stamp that Van Camp Cutlery used since they were located there. Interesting little knife wth some pretty heavy duty blades for the type of knife that it is.

This only the second Wabash Cutlery knife Ive ever owned. Recently let it go on Ebay to help pay the hospital....Ughhh....

Have a super day guys and once again.....thanks for sharin!!

Bob

Yet another very old and obscure brand....Terrier Cutlery(1910-1916) which was made by Robeson per Levine: Havent even had time to take a toothpick and toothbrush to this one yet.

Fascinating thread, and it really has legs, been running a while.
I see on our list here a couple obscure ones that I have, and they, like all the knives I will show you, are of the toothpick pattern: Shumate and Crucible Cutlery. The Crucible is a very nicely made knife.

So here are pics of a first few in alphabetical order, more I will add later. I will try and focus on the tang stamps as you folks have done and add more photos later.
AA Fisher 1910
Adolph Blaich-Arrow Brand, 1983-1915
Brantford Cutlery 1910?
Commander - Made by Metropolitan Cutlery 1918-1951
Enterprise Cutlery 1918-1920s