WW1 Letter openers...

[CCBill]

These were being thrown away by a neighbor, back in the early 60's. I just couldn't stand to see them go and I rescued them. The old Gentleman's name was Ira Ott. He was a member of the Lafayette Esquadrille in World War One. Mr. Ott was a very nice old gentleman. He said when they were sent to France, that a lot of them had never even seen an airplane. The so-called instructors didn't know how to fly. They just told them to get in an airplane and fly it. If they crashed it, they would fix it. They told them if they could drive a car, they could fly an airplane.Of course, some of them had never driven a car. I loved to hear him tell his stories. I only wish I would have had a tape recorder and had taken pictures of him.
He brought these back from France with him. He said they were taken off of a dead German soldier. They have been down in my "Dungeon" for many years. My Sons don't care anything about this "stuff" so I think I will sell them on ebay or if somebody offers me an interesting trade, so be it.
They are made from solid copper, with a silver(German?) coin soldered to each one. One is about 7" long, the other one is about 7&1/2".
...CCBill...