An old knife I found

[ferrisswheel]

Hope someone can help. I found an old Boker that my father left me. It doesn't have a model number. But on the master blade it says Boker
Solingen
Germany . Alemania

I have several Boker knives from the 1970's but none of them have the word Alemania on them. Doing research all I can find out is that Alemina either means Germany or The Federal Republic of Germany. I have no idea of the age of this knife. It is well used. One of the blades is actually a file but it has been broken. The handles appear to be Green Bone. If any one has any information about this knife I would appreceiate it. Thanks

[trail]

Ferris - Alemania is Spanish for Germany. Boker had a branch in Buenos Aires, and I am going to speculate that this knife was made in Solingen for export to Argentina. There was (and is) a production facility in Buenos Aires, but I think that the German made knives were marketed there as well as the native production - similar to the situation with Boker U.S.A. So just as we see Boker Solingen (German made) and Boker U.S.A. (American made) here, in Argentina they would see Boker Solingen (Alemania, German made) and Boker Arbolito (Argentinian made). This is all just informed speculation.

Can you take a close-up of the tang stamp and post it to the tangs, shields and etches thread? That would be a great addition.

regards
trail

[ferrisswheel]

Trail, thanks for the input. I don't know how in the world a knife shipped to Argentina ended up in the hills of Tennessee. I think that this knife used to belong to my Grand father before my father got it. I don't even think my Grand father ever left our home county.... Any idea of the age of this knife? Thanks, ferrisswheel

[Hawke]

"This is all just informed speculation."
With Boker's often thats all we have to go on. Well done Trail, I agree with your analysis too. My "gut reaction"(informed speculation ...Haha) as to the age of your knife ferrisswheel would be post WWII. The Bolster style was done on early versions, but the tang stamp makes me think later. So this guessing game for me would be its 1950's to 1960's.

[Hawke]

Found this clip from Knife World or a full copy at my site(Link: Boker Notes) A little hard to read, it says 1950 up to the 60's and on some reproduction knives. A friend sent me that copy of Knife World. Gonna scan a better copy asap.

After looking at the whole set of tang stamps listed there, I think they may have stamped that on all their knives or all of a certain pattern during a period there whereby they could ship them to either USA, Canada or Spanish speaking countries. There was even a branch in Mexico in their history around the same time as USA distributors started up too.

1865: Young Robert Boeker developed his enterprise in Canada, and later that year founding a branch in Mexico called Casa Boeker.

[thegreedygulo]

Your knife's pattern number is 5455. The handles are genuine deer stag.