Robeson Knife Question

[M36]

This is #513872 Stag handle with guard. I have a book that shows a mint value of $500. I understand that these values are someones opinion and Im to new at this to know if this is accurate or not. What research I have done through Google hasn't turned up very much, except a blurb that this is "rare". It seems to be not used much, in very good condition but the handle seems warped, especially where the blade goes. It doesn't seem to affect the blade at all.

Any opinions of this knife?

Thanks

[gino]

Robeson knives are very desirable. If this is a original Robeson it is valuable.The guard looks to have been replaced tho.The original guard was tapered at the ends. I like it and would not mind owning it myself. Nice knife!

[knifeaholic]

knife is authentic but that guard is a replacement of the original

[M36]

knife is authentic but that guard is a replacement of the original

Thats interesting, but Im curious to know what the give away is for that and how much that would detract from the knife? I was wondering about the roughness of the pin on the guard, but I dont know what would be standard or not. Could it be the original guard just re-pinned?

Any pictures of a real one?

[M36]

Well I just found some pictures of several of these type knives with different guards. Good information, to bad it's not the original.

[RobesonsRme.com]

The folding guards on these 872 pattern jacks have a tendency to come off. I've probably seen as many with the guards missing as I have with them still in place. The pins holding the guards were most often, but not always, ground flush with the guards, which probably explains their willingness to take leave of the knife.

The knives will be found with yellow composition, brown bone, Strawberry bone, and two different kinds of stag, one that I've seen referred to as English stag and the other burnt stag as on this knife.

They also came with different styles of clip blade. They came with a hollow ground blade, like this one and with a sabre-cut clip.

The blades are frequently etched, "ROBESON ShurEdge FROZEN HEAT" a Robeson cold quench process.

Most of these knives that you might come across were made after WWII and are stamped with the ROBESON / SHUREDGE (block) / U.S.A. marking. One reason the post war knives are so frequently found is this was one pattern that Robeson continued to produce right up to the end in 1965. That's when Robeson ceased production at the Perry, New York manufacturing facility.

However, Robeson produced the pattern back in the 1930's, but the only two patterns I've ever seen were NO-RUSTAIN knives and made of stainless steel. They were both lockbacks, had jigged brown bone handles and a NO-RUSTAIN shield with a blue background.

They made it with a sabre-cut clip blade and the pattern number was 619872. The third digit "9" indicated stainless steel.

That is the knife that Bruce Voyles valued at up to $640.00 in pristine mint condition in his 1995 issue of The International Blade Collectors Association Price Guide To Antique Knives.

The post-WWII non-locking knives do not command that kind of value.

Robeson also made the pre-war NO-RUSTAIN version with a sabre-cut spear blade. I have two, but both are missing the guards and one has a badly used blade. Both have jigged brown bone and the blue NO-RUSTAIN shield. The spear bladed knives had a different pattern number, 619873 or something like that. It was a digit off in one direction or the other.

Here are some examples, beginning with the older NO-RUSTAIN.

All these knives were listed in either Sargent's 4th or 5th edition, but I cannot recall right now what value he placed on them.


Charlie Noyes

[M36]

Hey Charlie, thank you for the information on these knives. What is the difference between burnt stag and English stag and if these knives have a habit of parting with the guard portion, what do you do with the guard less knives you have? Is it worthwhile to try and find a guard or are they just as rare? I saw those pictures you posted, that was how I figured out that mine was wrong.

Going back to one of my original questions, can you place a some where close to the ball park value? Since I wandered into this not knowing about the guard Im curious, though I do plan on hanging onto this for quite awhile.

Jim

[RobesonsRme.com]

The knife in the next to last photo I posted has handles that are often referred to as English stag. It's natural, gnarley and undied. Although Robeson's usual stag doesn't always look like burnt stag, I think it really is. Burnt stag has been lightly scortched with a flame to bring out different colors and highlights. Case Cutlery Company's stag handled knives are the most evident example. Makes for a very attractive handle.

As to the guards, there are craftsmen out there that could fashion a new set of duplicate guards from a sheet of nickel-silver of the proper thickness. That would cost you a bit, but it would improve the value of your knife. They wouldn't be original, but then, neither are the ones you currently have on the knife.

There are probably three or four men on AAPK that could do that.

If you're handy with a jeweler's saw, you could possibly make them yourself.

If I were having the work done, I'd send along another knife with its guards intact so the crafter would have something from which to copy the design.

You might also try to get the frame straightened a bit. Careful not to crack the handles, though. I think it already has a center pin crack on the backside.

I think your knife, as is, would be about $125.00. Have it properly restored by a bonafide knife craftsman and I think the value would double. Whether the knife could be restored for less than $125.00, I don't know, but it would look better.

If I owned it and thought it the only example I might ever reasonably acquire, I'd have the work done, even if it required complete disassembly. I know that's anathematic to some, but the knife's already been altered.

Charlie Noyes