Knives of the Naugatuck Valley, Conn.

knifegnome · Post by **knifegnome** » Sat May 09, 2020 12:59 am

Great looking knives everyone, I'm sure I have posted these before ,but I believe these were from the Naugatuck Valley..
L Bradley Knife Co
Wing & Co W. Goshen Ct
Northfield
Excelsior Box

FRJ · Post by **FRJ** » Sat May 09, 2020 1:15 am

Great knives knifegnome!
I have heard that there were knives made in Goshen but I have never seen one. Until now. And what a beauty

Ebenezer Wing & Co., 1868-1869. West Goshen Connecticut. .......... Per Goin's .......

I would say that is a rare bird. Congratulations.
Great post.

BWT · Post by **BWT** » Sat May 09, 2020 1:24 am

Very nice old and rare knifegnome, those are my kinda knives

Thanks for sharing those!!

KAW · Post by **KAW** » Sat May 09, 2020 1:36 am

Neat knives & I really like the box!

... and a couple of brands I have not heard of before...

LongBlade · Post by **LongBlade** » Sat May 09, 2020 1:49 pm

knifegnome wrote: ↑Sat May 09, 2020 12:59 am Great looking knives everyone, I'm sure I have posted these before ,but I believe these were from the Naugatuck Valley..
L Bradley Knife Co
Wing & Co W. Goshen Ct
Northfield
Excelsior Box

Nice group of knives Scott

... While Bradley knives are rare birds I think E Wing knives are even harder to find - I've only seen one Wing knife prior to yours but it was not for sale.....

LongBlade · Post by **LongBlade** » Sat May 09, 2020 3:46 pm

Here's one of my fav knives from the Naugatuck Valley - American Shear and Knife Co - Hotchkissville - 3 & 5/16" closed and considered a Boys Knife..

BWT · Post by **BWT** » Sat May 09, 2020 4:17 pm

Very nice Lee, it’s in such good condition

It’s been hard for me to find that maker, nice blades and bone on that one!

doglegg · Post by **doglegg** » Sat May 09, 2020 5:51 pm

Lee, for me that one is exceptional. Love the pattern and that knife in particular. Excellent.

knifegnome · Post by **knifegnome** » Sat May 09, 2020 10:06 pm

Great looking American Shear , I have been looking for one of those to go with the box I have.

FRJ · Post by **FRJ** » Sat May 09, 2020 10:23 pm

Gorgeous full blades, Lee, and beautiful bone.

I have an American shear & Knife with similar colored bone.

FRJ · Post by **FRJ** » Sat May 09, 2020 10:38 pm

Here's another American Shear & Knife.

LongBlade · Post by **LongBlade** » Sat May 09, 2020 10:43 pm

Thanks Bill, doglegg, Scott and Joe

....

knifegnome wrote: ↑Sat May 09, 2020 10:06 pm Great looking American Shear , I have been looking for one of those to go with the box I have.

Scott - What a coincidence - I've been looking for an American Shear & Knife box for the knife

.....

FRJ wrote: ↑Sat May 09, 2020 10:23 pm Gorgeous full blades, Lee, and beautiful bone.

I have an American shear & Knife with similar colored bone.

Great looking knife Joe

... Very similar dye on that bone for sure

danno50 · Post by **danno50** » Sun May 10, 2020 4:14 pm

Three beauties, John, especially that Southington barlow!

Great knives, knifegnome, and a beautiful box!

I can see why that American Shear & Knife boy's knife would be one of your favourites, Lee, lots to like about that one!

Two more good ones, Joe, especially that American Shear & Knife swayback!

LongBlade · Post by **LongBlade** » Sat May 16, 2020 5:55 pm

Here's a few from Waterville which was no doubt Naugatuck Valley... All are engraved aluminum handles and one with just bolsters... remember aluminum was more expensive than gold and silver in the later 1800s so I assume these were some of their more expensive top of the line knives - maybe I was just lucky finding these 4 Waterville examples over the years using aluminum or Waterville had a good connection to having these handles made... I assume most cutleries sourced these handles from the same company (a handle company such as Salisbury as one example though never have seen these handles advertised in old cutlery journals or perhaps they were sourced from a "jeweler" of sorts such as sterling silver handles - if you look between companies with these handles they are very similar in engraving design with brass pins that were centered in the flowers/leaves of the design...

KAW · Post by **KAW** » Sat May 16, 2020 6:09 pm

Lee & Joe... those AS&K are very interesting looking knives!

and Lee... those Watervilles have a real nice appeal. I only have a couple of Hudson Valley knives that have embossed aluminum bolsters.
The idea that the aluminum parts were probably outsource is a detail I had not considered, but makes very good sense in that those bolsters do have the same design despite being from different manufactures.

BWT · Post by **BWT** » Sat May 16, 2020 8:15 pm

Very nice Lee

LongBlade · Post by **LongBlade** » Sat May 16, 2020 11:24 pm

Thanks Ken and Bill

...

FRJ · Post by **FRJ** » Sun May 17, 2020 1:27 am

Beautiful knives, Lee. A pleasure to look at.

It seems to me the embellishment around the pins and perhaps the other decorative work on the covers would have been done after the knife was constructed. I can't imagine the cutler allowing the jeweler to determine pin placement.

LongBlade wrote: ↑Sat May 16, 2020 5:55 pm engraving design with brass pins that were centered in the flowers/leaves of the design...

Waukonda · Post by **Waukonda** » Thu Oct 08, 2020 11:32 pm

This old soldier is on the beaten up side, but I wanted to show the stamp in this thread, can't be many of these out there.

If only......

LongBlade · Post by **LongBlade** » Fri Oct 09, 2020 1:08 pm

Cool stamp on what was a sweet knife (before the snapped blade) but still is a nice "stamp" score Ike

... I have 2 Conn Cut knives but both are stamped Conn Cut Co Naugatuck - whereas yours is Thomaston... truth is these Conn Cut knives are rare enough that I am not sure if the Thomaston stamp was before or after Naugatuck which is the interesting detail, and having only seen maybe 3 of these company's knives in the past I am not sure if they were located in Thomaston before or after Naugatuck - I'll have to look it up as I am not that familiar with Conn Cut's specific historical details - except I believe Lyman Bradley ran the cutlery after his own and indeed Conn Cut is an early CT company

...

danno50 · Post by **danno50** » Fri Oct 09, 2020 4:11 pm

Great old knife, Ike!

Too bad about the broken blade, but as Lee said, great stamp.
Thanks Lee for the additional information.

edge213 · Post by **edge213** » Fri Oct 09, 2020 6:26 pm

Waukonda wrote: ↑Thu Oct 08, 2020 11:32 pm This old soldier is on the beaten up side, but I wanted to show the stamp in this thread, can't be many of these out there.

If only......

This one is a cool looking pattern.

peanut740 · Post by **peanut740** » Fri Oct 09, 2020 9:19 pm

Ike,I thought you'd like it.

Waukonda · Post by **Waukonda** » Fri Oct 09, 2020 11:13 pm

Thanks for the comments. It could have easily been discarded many years ago when the blade was snapped, but it wasn't. I look at it as an important piece of cutlery history to hang onto, regardless of blemishes.

peanut740 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 09, 2020 9:19 pm Ike,I thought you'd like it.

You thought right, thanks Roger!

Explanation:This knife "somehow" ended up in the shipping package with some others that I purchased from Roger.

LongBlade · Post by **LongBlade** » Sat Oct 10, 2020 4:05 pm

Waukonda wrote: ↑Thu Oct 08, 2020 11:32 pm This old soldier is on the beaten up side, but I wanted to show the stamp in this thread, can't be many of these out there.

If only......

danno50 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 09, 2020 4:11 pm Great old knife, Ike! Too bad about the broken blade, but as Lee said, great stamp.
Thanks Lee for the additional information.

Just as an fyi - it appears that Thomaston was stamped on some of the knives from 1880-1883 at the end of the company's existence (and Naugatuck from 1867-1880)... other note is though I thought I had read Lyman Bradley ran the company (he was no doubt noted to run Waterville at some point early on) it appears Homer Twitchell took the reins of the company (Twitchell knives are even more rare than Conn Cut

)... From reading an old resource it appears some knives have been found with one blade marked Thomaston and one marked Naugatuck.. maybe those were transition knives or some other company (maybe Thomaston) made some blades for them... knives with blades showing 2 different stamps is not all that unusual back in those days for many reasons and in fact though often one may be suspicious they are cobbled they are in fact original knives in many cases (and that is where "reading" a knife becomes more important

....

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