All About Pocket Knives

I posted some information on the Counterfeit Watch Forum this past weekend. I thought I'd repeat some of it here, show a couple of good examples and try to get a little discussion going.

I know that John Goins described the Terrier Cutlery Company as a separate Rochester intity that had their knives made for them by Robeson. Over the years, I have come to a firm conclusion that Terrier was a premium brand conceived, manufactured, and marketed solely by the Robeson Cutlery Company. I have no documentary proof. It's just what I have come to believe.

As I began buying Robeson knives in the 1980's, I was introduced, early on, to Terriers by Pete Cohan. I've bought them all along when I find one I like. I prefer them, however, to at least be in excellent condition, using the NKCA definition of that term. I only have a dozen or so. They were only made for six years, 1910-1916, and are really quite rare. Really nice ones come along once in a blue moon.

Several years ago, a seller on Ebay posted two very nearly mint Terriers, stating they had been found in the stock of a closed hardware store. He did not know anything else about them. He put them up without a reserve. He was not a knife seller. He just happened to have come across these. I was determined to own those two knives. It took a good bit of money to win the bids on the two knives.
(Mike Losicco might have been the competitor that ran the bids up so high )

As I've said, Terrier knives were a premium brand for Robeson, not a lesser brand. They were manufactured at the height of Robeson quality. I've never seen a poorly made Terrier.

They put pattern numbers on the Terrier knives. They did not do that for any other brand, such as Continental, or Globe. They reversed the two sets of three digits, however. So a Robeson 722236 little pearl slim jack would have been 236722 as a Terrier.

Here are the two Terrier Bull Head Jacks that I bought simultaneously off Ebay. They are among my favorite knives, and I do not regret the purchase. I wish I had ten more as good .
The blades have a crocus finish on the front and a glaze finish on the back, which is correct.
The larger of the two has salesman sample code numbers on it.

If this thread sparks any interest, I'll post photos of other interesting Terriers. Hopefully, others have some, too.

You can see the quality in each of those knives. I can see how they would sell for high dollar in the condition they are in.This might sound like a stupid question, but what exactly is a crocus or a glazed finish?

"Crocus" finish is a mirror polish. The term comes from the very fine red (probably iron) powder used to load the wheels, "crocus powder", for the final polishing of a knife blade.

"Glaze" is a finish that shows very fine parallel grind lines.

Look at the backs of the secondary blades in the photos.
Bernie Levine discusses crocus and glaze finishes in Levine's Guide. The process of putting a crocus finish on the fronts and a glaze finish on the backs of blades are an indication of premium older knives. Modern knives are mirror or crocus finished on both sides.
Charlie Noyes

Thanks for the info!

I'm not for sure, but I believe Canal Street Cutlery is finishing their blades crocus/glazed.

Griz

OK Charlie, I told you I would post to this thread. Here is the first, Terrier Cutlery Display Case with some boxes in it.

I'll take pics of the knives and post them later.

Galvanic,,,,

that display would have probably caused me to have some minor heart failure if I were to have ran across it with a for sale sign on it,,,,,,VERY NICE

Thanks Texx39, I am glad you like it. It took a year to convince the former owner to part with it. He used it to sell antique beaded purses!!!

Here is a Terrier Slot Knife

Just think. Mike's Terrier display case is from the 1910-1916 time frame. What would a Case collector give for a Case Brother's display case of similar age?
I know of two other Terrier display cases. One is a five foot tall tower case that measures about 6" x 9" x 5'. It is in the National Knife Museum. I have an identical case with the Robeson logos on it.
The other Terrier case belongs to a fellow collector/dealer friend. It is a tower case as well, but with curved glass instead of a framed rectangular shape. It, too, is about five feet tall.

Mike's Terrier slot knife is, indeed, rare. I can only remember hearing of three, Mike's included. I tend to think of most American made wood handled slot knives as being circa WWI, but Terrier knives ceased to be produced in 1916, two years prior.

Charlie, did I understand you right, is Continental made by Robeson? Are they rare? I have a Continental NY Cutlery Co. I have never seen a connection to Robeson.

Stockman

Just about every knife marked, CONTINENTAL / CUTLERY CO. / NEW YORK (or N.Y.) are familiar Robeson knives, and the bone handled ones all shout "Robeson!" to me.
This excludes, of course, that fake bone handled "Continental" coke bottle jack that was recently listed on Ebay. We discussed that seller and his knives recently.
I have a letter, written on Robeson stationary, to Buchanan Hardware Company, in Richfield Springs, New York. The letter is dated March 26, 1914. Incidentally, that is one year prior to the start date listed in Goins for Continental, New York knives. The letter reads:

Gentlemen;
You will receive our invoice for roll of Continental Pocket Knives that you ordered through Mr. Gillette.
For your convenience in shipping we placed these knives in one of our regular sample rolls and it may be possible that you will want to keep this roll for a week or so to help you in displaying the knives and selling them. This will be perfectly satisfactory if you so desire, but we would suggest that when you are finished with the roll that you return it to us by express and oblige.
Very Truly Yours
The Robeson Cutlery Company

The letter is illegibly signed, but the transcriptionist's notation lists his initials as, "FHC". I have no idea who that might have been.

I do not buy a lot of Continentals, just enough to have a representative sampling.

The big cigar jack below is identical to a Robeson 4 1/4" 037 pattern, and the bone is a familiar Robeson product. Obviously, it has been cleaned. That's how I got it. There is a similar, but uncleaned, Continental in an Ebay Store right now.

The ebony handled jack is, I believe, 3 3/8" long. I have a corresponding Robeson, but it, too, has no pattern number. The two wood handled knives do not really prove anything, I guess.

The 1914 letter, however, pretty much does it for me. One would assume that Continental knives might have been made by others, as well. Goins tracks them from England to New York to Kansas City. I connect Robeson only to the New York marked knives.

Thought I'd bring the discussion back to Terriers, not that I didn't enjoy the question about Continental .
Here are two really nice Terrier knives.
First is a 214642 four blade scout/utility. It's identical to the 214 Robeson, but as I said earlier, they reversed the numbers on Terriers. Someone put this knife up on Ebay with a Buy-It-Now price. It was there less than thirty minutes. It is just dead mint.
The other is an 089622 (or 622089) 3 3/4" dog leg jack that I picked up at a knife show about three years ago.

Here's an English Jack. I have a Robeson that when you put them together you can hear them say, Hi Cousion!!!

Here is the last Terrier I own other than the old rusty 3 blade 3 backspring that I have posted before in a different thread. Again I just love the indian or worm groove bone!!!

OK. I'll continue this private chat between Mike and myself. Somebody else jump in anytime.
Mike's English jack and that sleeveboard are really nice. I've never had a Terrier English jack. I do have a sleeveboard like that, though. The pattern number is 102622. I'll post a photo of mine below.
I'm also going to post a 3 3/8" Terrier Barlow with "TCC" embossed bolsters, like the old "RCC" embossed bolsters on Robeson Barlows. Pete Cohan, who has a huge Barlow collection has never seen a knife like this.

Great stuff Charlie, I only have the 3 blade left so I will post 1 picture of it. That barlow is a great looking knife, man the bone!!!!!!!

Thanks, Mike.
The more I see that rusted old Terrier three backspring cattle knife, the more I realize it just does not belong in a collection that is so predominated by mint knives such as yours. I'll kindly help you remove the distraction anytime.

After I posted my 102 sleeveboard, I noticed how much nicer was the bone on yours. It has so much color!
Charlie Noyes

OK. One last entry to the Terrier thread. Etched knives. I have two etched Terriers.

First is a nice big swell-end two blade jack. This knife has tortoise celluloid handles, but they do not photograph well. The colors are black, to a sort of ox-blood dark red. The master blade is nicely etched, "TERRIER * BRAND", with the Terrier dog head logo between the two words.

Second is a pearl handled whittler. It is etched, "TERRIER BRAND" but without the dog head logo as on the other knife.

I'm going to revive this Terrier Cutlery Company thread, instead of starting a new one.

I have a fellow Robeson collector friend in the NorthEast that contacted me about buying some of his items. We've known each other a long time, and have met at two different knife shows over the years, once in Louisville, KY. and then in Eugene, OR.

I knew he had some nice things, but I limited myself to his Terrier collection. I knew he had one knife that I really wanted, a small, thin 2" Terrier pick bone handled two blade congress pen. Alas, that knife was gone, and he doesn't even remember selling it.

I did get these three things from him, though:

An excellent-plus Terrier slot knife.

A really nice Terrier harness knife.

A nice tortoise celluloid handled razor with covered tang in an original Terrier box.

Remember, these items all date 1910 - 1916.

Charlie Noyes

Nice score, Charlie!
Now I'm totally envious of that Harness knife!!
Turn about is fair play, I guess!

A battle scarred old Terrier.

Steel bolsters, brass liners an a nickle silver pivot pin.

Someone got their money`s worth out of this one

Sweet knives fellas! that jack is awesome Mike.

One more

I just won this little pearl handled Terrier whittler off Ebay. It looks like it has some rust and tarnish, but I think it was a good buy.

Nice Terriers are hard to come by. After all, they're between ninetyfour and one hundred years old.

The seller did not list the pattern number, but you can see part of it on one of the secondary blades. I think the number is going to be 002 / 732 in two lines.

I have the pattern with tortoise celluloid or genuine tortoise, I'm not sure which. I've been told it's genuine tortoise in the past.

I'll post better photos when it arrives.

Charlie Noyes

The Terrier Barlow on the first page is one of the nicest knives I've ever seen. What a beautiful piece.