All About Pocket Knives

Those 4 inch+ Congress knives are hard to find, I love the pattern--Here are mine
Schatt & Morgan--on ebay right now
Maher & Grosh
H & B

My one and only Large Congress, newly acquired. A 1978 Case with delrin handles, I really like it. Thinkin' 'bout acquirin' some more

This is my only large Robeson congress. It is nice, but was gently cleaned prior to coming to live at my house.

Charlie Noyes

It's not old or rare, but it is a large congress. 2007 Case Large Congress, I'm finding out this pattern seems hard to find. It was on sale, so I picked her up, has great snap and fit and finish. I really like Case's Large Congress, although they seem too pricy to me. The Orange bone goes out to all you Tennessee fans

My only big congress, Utica Salesman's sample, love that ink!!!

Here is a nice old Robeson Cutlery Co. Congress knife.

This is one of my favorite patterns.

It has attractive jigged bone, long arched bar shield, and pinched nickle silver bolsters.

A very classy knife pattern, by one of the great makers.

M.B.

MB;
That's a nice pattern, and a nice knife. I don't believe I've ever seen a Robeson congress with pinched bolsters.
Does it have a pattern number?
Charlie Noyes

Charlie,

Looks like the pattern number is 642386.

Another thing I just noticed, all the blades are tang stamped "Robeson Cutlery Co" in an arch, except the blade with the pattern number, it is stamped "Robeson Shuredge Rochester , N.Y.

Can you put a date on it?


M.B.

Short blade Electric Cut

MB;
Kalcevic's Knives Can Talk states 1911-1921 for the tang stamp on the master blade.

Prior to WWII, Robeson marked all the blades on their better quality knives. Most of the time, the master was stamped using the current stamp from the time period, and the secondary blades with one of the arched stamps, ROBESON (arched) / CO. / CUTLERY or
ROBESON (arched) / U.S.A. / CUTLERY. Read those with the part in the middle said last, like "Robeson Cutlery Co." or "Robeson Cutlery U.S.A.".

Their really premium knives had all the blades stamped the same as the master.

I do not have your pattern number listed, so I've never seen one of these before. Cool.

Here is a Robeson congress with rounded bolsters, 642431 is the pattern number, and a nice 642453.

Charlie Noyes

Charlie,

I like that 642431 pattern with the rounded bolsters. It also has two notches on the front side to open the blades. Mine has one notch on each side for the pen blade only.

It seems there are many variations, and you never know what will turn up next.


M.B.

MB, All;
The 431 is a PocketEze knife, meaning the backs of the blade's tangs are flush with the top of the frame when they are closed. I suspect the thumb notches on the 431 keep the nail nick areas of the blades from having to sit too high above the frame on a knife that has lower contoured blades already.

The 453 is not a PocketEze knife and therefore has no thumb notches in the frame. The same appears to be true of your knife.

Just my thoughts. No proof.

Here is a somewhat smaller knife with the same shield as yours. I cannot quote its length off the top of my head, but I'll check, if you wish. The pattern number on this one is 622193.

Charlie Noyes

RobesonsRme.com wrote:The 453 is not a PocketEze knife and therefore has no thumb notches in the frame. The same appears to be true of your knife.

But it does have two notches in the 386, one on the front side and one on the back side, on the small pen blades.

Interestingly, these two blades with the thumb notches sit lower than the two larger blades without the notches.

RobesonsRme.com wrote:The 431 is a PocketEze knife, meaning the backs of the blade's tangs are flush with the top of the frame when they are closed.

The 386 blades are not flush however.

RobesonsRme.com wrote:I cannot quote its length off the top of my head, but I'll check, if you wish. The pattern number on this one is 622193.

The length of the 386 is 3 3/4", I would like to know the length of your 193, the shield is the same, how is the tang stamped?

M.B.

MB;
I apologize. You plainly stated that your knife had thumb notches for the two pen blades, one on each side.

The 431 PocketEze knife has a thumb notch for all four blades. If you look at the photo, you can see the blue flannel through the notches on both sides.

The 193 congress is also 3 3/4" long. It is marked, ROBESON / ShurEdge / ROCHESTER, which Tom Kalcevic dates 1922-1939.

Any variation, including your pinched bolsters, would have prompted a different pattern number from Robeson.

Charlie Noyes

Charlie,

Thank you for all the information you provided.

I do not have Tom Kalcevic`s book. Is it still in print/ Does anyone know where I can obtain a copy?

Do you have an old Robeson dealer knife catalog? This would answer a lot of questions about these knives. I would imagine they are hard to come by.


M.B.

Here is a large old Sperry & Alexander congress knife.

4 1/4" overall, attractive jigged bone handles, rat tail bolsters, and a rather unusual arched shield.

Circa 1893-1927. An importer of knives from new York. This one definitely looks like it is from England.

All in all a very attractive old knife



M.B.

Tom Kalcevic's book was self published. Last time I communicated with him, which was sometime this year, he stated he did not intend to issue any further revisions or editions. Whether or not he'd print and bind one for you, I do not know. You can reach him at
716-226-3369.

Robeson catalogs from before WWII are extremely rare. I only know of one, and Bruce Voyles owns it, unless he has sold it since last we spoke. It is, however, the very catalog from which the Fergusons got the early knife prints for their book The Romance of Collecting Russell, Cattaraugus, Robeson and Queen Knives, 1976. That book turns up on Ebay frequently, and KnifeWorld might still have copies to sell. Another good pictoral source is Bruce Volyles ABCA Guide to Antique Knives, 1989. When he was doing that book, Bruce, had just obtained a collection of over four hundred Robeson knives. There is a pic of every one of them in the Robeson section of that book. You might check KnifeWorld for that one, too.

Charlie Noyes

Some fabulous american congress knives you all have in your collection--Thanks for posting them--Mark