All About Pocket Knives

Just snagged this off the 'bay. United Cutlery Co. Germany - 1908-1920. I know that United is not all that collectable, but I thought it was a pretty little knife, and kind of interesting too. Nice swedge, nice long pull, full blades, and a chain to boot.

i like her!

Thanks Pete, me too. Good to hear from you and see you posting again. Sure hope everything's going well for you.

Thanks for sharing. I like it too! Some knives are just plain fun to have in your collection. Chain attached is an added plus as you don't see many with the chain/lanyard still attached.

Nice find TJ,

Always nice to have an extra little bonus with an Ebay find. While the knife is in good shape overall the chain looks good too. Is it long enough to be practical ? Might have been a pocket watch chain ?

Thanks fellers. Don't have it yet but chain appears to be 9-12" in length. Is it long enough to be useful? Don't know, never had a knife on a chain before, but I'll bet it comes off if it's not.

That's a nice looking knife TJ, good score.

when it comes let me know if bail is original if you can tell.

Thanks Mike. Just from the pictures, it really doesn't appear to be used, just carried aroung a little.

Peter. I'll let you know what I think. Since the bolsters, pins and shield appear to be iron, I would think that the bail would be the same and have about the same patina. We'll see.

Nice pick up murph. ::envy::

I like it TJ!. Great lookin spearpoint. I've got an Imperial E/O jack with a similar chain attached.
Mark

YO! Gino - This one sort of runs along your taste in old stuff, doesn't it? From the looks of it the blades seem full and unsharpened.

I would be interested to know how old you think it is when you get it TJ.
I don't know of anything imported by United in the years before they went under (about 2004 or 2005).
I am wondering if it wasn't made quite a few years ago. It certainly looks like it is an older knife.

Nice find.

Dale

Hey Dale. I think it is pretty old. Both Goins and Price & Zalesky list United Cutlery Co. Germany 1908-1920. I'm pretty sure that this is not the modern United. That spear is just blowing me away with the great swedge, both sides of blade, and the nice long pull.

tjmurphy wrote:Just snagged this off the 'bay. United Cutlery Co. Germany - 1908-1920. I know that United is not all that collectable, but I thought it was a pretty little knife, and kind of interesting too. Nice swedge, nice long pull, full blades, and a chain to boot.

"Collectability" is in the eye of the beholder. I like lots of German knives that aren't hugely-sought after. It's a cool knife & thanks for sharing!

KG888 - You are absolutely correct. The stuff I buy is because I like it, and for no other reason. I've got such a hodge-podge of knives that if I tried to separate them by manufacture everyone would be in a pile by itself. I'll never make a fortune and will probably never get out what I've got in, but I like most of what I've bought. Everyone gets a disappointing buy once in a while when you buy sight-unseen. I thought this little knife was really cool with the spear and long pull. Blades look to be full. And, actually, the price was really right, <$20 w/shipping.

thats the right way to buy murph.

That makes sense Tom.
That is the right style, design and materials for early 20th century Germany.
I didn't realize there was an early United Cutlery Co.
I saw so much of there ho-hum stuff (design wise) in the 1980s that I sort of filter them out.
I will have to pay better attention!

Dale

hey RAMROD do you have a pic of the knife with similar chain..would be nice to see. thanx bro-pete

orvet wrote:That makes sense Tom.
That is the right style, design and materials for early 20th century Germany.
I didn't realize there was an early United Cutlery Co.
I saw so much of there ho-hum stuff (design wise) in the 1980s that I sort of filter them out.
I will have to pay better attention!

Dale

There were several United Cutlery Co's. in early 20th Century, mine happens to be United Cutlery Co. Germany, although mine does not appear to have the "None Better" blade etch, seller never mentioned the etch either. Most appear to be the same company just different imports. First scan continues on second scan.

peterforce wrote:hey RAMROD do you have a pic of the knife with similar chain..would be nice to see. thanx bro-pete

Here you go Pete...

Just the obvious

TJ I know you have some special secret words you use to search eBay, you keep coming up with great finds and low prices! You don't need to find a flea market. Plus you have a good eye like I told you before.

Post to this thread when the knife arrives?

Will do, Mike. I picked up a great looking, early Utica equal end jack today with great bone handles and wonderful jigging. It's posted in the Questions thread. No secret words or any magic Mojo, just dumb luck. I dig through ebay really hard all the time and find the stuff that I want and stick them in my watch list. I deside what I'm willing to pay for it, including shipping, and I stick to it. The things that interest me and that I look for are nice handles (wood, bone, horn and sometimes stag, though the stag is usually out of my price range) swedge and long pulls on the blades, tang stamps that are not too common, I really like Jacks, iron bolsters, pins and liners. You put all those together in combination with a nice shield or even no shield and OH MOMMA When I find something that fits the bill I'll look at the bidding history. Usually if the bids are increased by minimum bid amounts you can usually snipe with a bid 5-10 times the minimum bid amount (i.e. if the minimum bid amount is 50c, up the bid by $5) Doesn't work all the time but it does work a lot of the times.