All About Pocket Knives

Hi, I'm new here, so if I am asking this in the wrong thread, please direct me to the right place.

I have a few knives I'd like to get some info on. I've looked around the net but haven't been able to find anything.

What I have is a 4 blade pocket knife with a MOP handle. One of the blades is a file. It has "Schmachtenberg Bros. Germany" stamped on each blade, and what appears to be an anchor with crossed swords on the opposite side of the blades.

On one end, there is a teeny tiny "peep hole" that you can look through, and it has a picture of scantilly clad ladies. (LOL) I tried to take a pic of what you can see through the peep hole, but it is so tiny and was difficult to get the entire pic. I think it's pretty old simply because of the style of attire the ladies are wearing.

Any info you could offer as far as age, value, etc. would be great. This is the only knife I've ever seen that has a peep hole, and I was wondering if it was a common thing for it's time or if it's pretty rare. It's really pretty cool.

Welcome to the forum!

Your knife dates from 1887 to 1939. That "peep hole" is called a stanhope lens. Knives with stanhopes are pretty uncommon and usually command quite a bit of money depending on how well the stanhope works and which company made the knife.

That's great! And thank you! I'm having such a hard time finding anything out about it. Knowing the correct terminology will help, I'm sure! The stanhope works great. I wish I could get a better picture for you to see. It's really pretty amazing. I'll keep trying to get a better pic.

Schmachtenberg Bros. of New York was the American agent for the Gebruder Schmachtenberg cutlery manufacturer of Solingen, Germany.

Gebruder Schmachtenberg made pocketknives, scissors, straight razors, tableware and other edged items for distribution under the Clim, Climax, Anchor and Sword logos. They also made knives on contract for private labels. The company continues in existence to the current day, selling shear blades, guideways and precision machine parts out of Koln (Cologne) Germany.

Thank you!

I can't seem to find anything that will help put a value on it.