All About Pocket Knives

I just got this old Standard Knife Company Little Valley New York in the mail.

The stamp is light on this old girl and she is well worn, but a tough knife to find in any conditon. Wouldn't you agree?

Click on pics to enlarge.

It was a jobbing firm with knives made by various manufacturers. The LVNY company was only in business from 1901 to 03 Elliot Case was 25 and Dean Case was 17 when they started it. Young people from a dynasty of cutlery. Elliot died of Typhoid in 1903 closing the business down. The name was revived by W.R. Case as a cheaper line of knives in 1926 - 28 approximately. The second pic shows a what I believe to be a Case era knife, but other companies made them as well. The second pic is from what I believe to be the KaBar years of production up until 1948.

Look at the shield on the last pic. Goldstone inlay. I found that Charles Platt's had a patten for celluloid handles and shields to save money on production. Certainly this would be the situation for this knife. The previous one doesn't even have a shield and lends to the idea that it was a less expensive brand.

what do you boys think?

wow amasing knives there for sure!

Great knives.

That is the first knife with the STANDARD KNIFE CO LITTLE VALLY NEW YORK tang stamping that I have ever seen.

On the other two though - I have always thought that the Standard marked knives without the Little Valley NY were the later knives marketed by WR Case & Sons. I have a 1920s WR Case billhead that shows listings for Standard Knife Co knives. Thoughts?

Steve,

You are right about the later stampings. If you read my post again you will see that I mention that Case revived the name in the 20's and that Kabar actually made them until the 40's. It is my first LVNY one also. Kinda worn, but a rare knife. I am sure I paid to much for it, but hey there ain't many to be had.

found this one while cleaning my knives . w.r. case & sons made this standard b2063 shad, long pull . this one was cleaned to mint looking

Nice knife, Paul.

Help me out here; what defines it as a "shad".
Thanks.

Joe,

A "shadow" knife has no bolsters on it

Ah Ha.
Thanks Dimitri. I never knew that.
I think I've got a couple of shads.

FRJ wrote:Nice knife, Paul.

Help me out here; what defines it as a "shad".
Thanks.

thanks, has a few hone marks from cleaning

While researching Standard Knife Co. here I came across Davids (PA Knives) post.
I was looking for a correlation with the nice little jack that I bought from him in reference to Goins description.
Well, David, as usual, brought that to light.
Before finding Davids post I took pictures of my recently purchased swell center to compare it with an old
Ka-Bar I have thinking it was made by Ka-Bar.
But now I'm wondering .............. are these knives associated with Charlie Platts?

David? ............ Anybody?

Thanks to David the 1st knife, the Standard, marked Little Valley, has been in my collection for a couple years or so. I plan on it staying there as long as I can keep it. It is also the only one I have seen stamped like this. Surely there must be some more out there??

Tom

A great piece of history there Tom. Something to hang on to.

Thanks, Joe,
I do intend to hang on to it. It would be great if some of the members had a few if them and posted them. They were made about the same time as the Little Valley Ass. Knives were made and those show up every now and then.
Thanks again,
Tom

Tom, I have a toenail Standard Knife Co.in an arch over Little Valley NY,Both blades marked the same.And yes it is a swell center.

Cool knife, Roger. Who do you think made it? Platts?
Now we know that at least two exist. Have you seen or do you have others?.

Tom

So this stamp existed from 1901 to 1903 according to Goins. I wonder, naturally, how many knives were made in the patterns shown. 700, 1000? More? Up and running knife companies made a hell of a lot of knives. Who knows what the production was at Little Valley in the Standard Brand. Theoretical Question.
110 years can scatter a lot of knives.
Great history here. Wish I knew more.

Tom, I believe it was made by Robeson.It is different than other Robeson toenails I've seen.It has a single backspring instead of double, and the blades have long pulls.

Looks like you boys are in rarefied air,congrats.