All About Pocket Knives

When I first started collecting Robeson knives and attending knife shows back in the very late 1980's, I was handed a knife by Ms. Cindy Taylor, who wanted to know if I thought it had been made by The Robeson Cutlery Company.

For the life of me, I cannot recall what the knife looked like, what kind of pattern it was or from what its handles were made.

I only recall the knife was tang stamped, BASTIAN BROS. CO. / ROCHESTER, NEW YORK (possibly "N.Y.")

Cindy's question was prompted, I think, simply by the "Rochester" locale.

I couldn't answer her question as I had not really looked at enough Robeson knives at that early date to make a supposition.

In March of last year, a Bastian Brothers knife was posted to AAPK. Miller Bros opined it was Robeson made and I agreed.

Now, I've came across this similar Bastian Brothers knife on Ebay last week. This Safety Award knife is a fairly common Robeson pattern.

I don't know who or what Bastian Brothers Company were, but Robeson certainly made this knife for them.

I think they were ID'd last year as a Rochester jeweler.

In all the years since Cindy showed me that first knife, this is only the third or fourth Bastian Brothers knife I've seen.

Charlie Noyes

Very cool find with great history. I've seen plenty of that pattern with Robeson stamps but that certainly is a first. I will have to look closer when I see that pattern in the future.

I believe this is the Bastion Bros. Co. your knife was made for. Sure sounds right.

http://www.bastiancompany.com/about.shtml

Charlie, I have seen knives with the Bastian Brothers mark, all of them metal handle advertising knives.

I have one that is an ink eraser, it looks like a folding knife but is a fixed blade, kind of unusual.

It's highly possible the knife Cindy Taylor showed me was just like these Safety Award knives; I just simply cannot remember.

I think I did not find the question very intriguing at the time.

Charlie

Here is another one of these Charlie.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Good-Roads ... 2c77beb57b

Brett, thanks. I've never seen that one before.

Charlie

I found a picture of the knife I have, the tang is marked Bastian Brothers.

Interesting knife, Dimitri. Is there a built-in clevis?

I don't know if Robeson made that one or the one Brett posted, as they are not typical Robeson patterns, but both companies were located in Rochester and had a known working relationship, so it makes sense.

Bastian Bros. were makers/providers of a wide variety of advertising and commemorative items.

I recently bought an old, circa 1950, pocket watch and spent some time on Ebay looking for an appropriate fob for it. Alot of the fobs were Bastian Bros. products.

Charlie

Charlie, there is no clevis, the blade is fixed and it is constructed just like most hunting knives. The cast handles are riveted to the thru tang.

Very unusual so I had to have it. I believe Robeson could have easily made this for them, though I have absolutely no proof they did so.

The reason I asked about the clevis is it looks as though there is a perforation through the handle at the butt end. Probably a reflection, I guess.

Given what I recently observed of Bastian Bros while looking at about 10,000 watch fobs, I'd surmise they produced the handles and provided them to Robeson for use in knife construction.

Charlie

That is a very good possibility. If you get a chance post a picture of the watch fob.

I went to Ebay and did a search for, "Bastian Bros Watch Fob" and got twenty-five matches just in the "Watches" category. There are probably more in the "Jewelry" section.

I copied photos of the ones I thought interesting.

The photos are in pairs; front and back.

Some of these little doodads sell for hundreds of dollars. Apparently, there is a very active group of collectors after these things. There are collector's books available.

I suspect just about every male oriented company in America offered these at one time.

These were produced, of course, by many different manufacturers, including Bastian Bros., Whitehead & Hoag, among others.

I'd love to find one from Robeson, and don't think I didn't look for one.

Charlie

A few more:

This post was useless information.
Deleted by me.

Those are awesome fob`s thanks for posting them!

While searching Google for Bastian Bros images and/or information, I noticed they also produced some "Ruptured Duck" pins.

I'll have to check my Dad's and see if their name is on it.

They have produced a wealth of political buttons and pins, going way back.

If you do a Google Image search for "Bastian Brothers Knife", you get some interesting results.

Charlie

RobesonsRme.com wrote:Some of these little doodads sell for hundreds of dollars. Apparently, there is a very active group of collectors after these things. There are collector's books available.

I collected them at one time in my teens, I still have them somewhere

I do have a price guide on them as well in my library, I will have to look for the book and see if it has any information about the company.