All About Pocket Knives

Hey y'all. I just picked this up and have no idea who makes it, but would like to know if anybody has any info that could help me identify and possibly put a value on it? I will post better pictures once I receive it. (I would also like to clean it up, if it wouldn't hurt the value...)

Not sure who made it. Possibly Colonial. These "risque charm knives" were sold in Five and Ten cent type and similar stores across the country. There would be about 2 Doz. knives hanging form the cardboard display card. Knives would all be alike with the exception of the images under the thin transparent handles.

Great little piece of nostalgia!

Wayne

Very cool. Thanks for the info! I am interested to see how much information I can gather about this type of knife.

Cleaning it will not hurt the value. These aren't typically especially high dollar knives in the first place, although there are plenty of folks who do collect them.

As to the cleaning, it looks like there is some significant out gassing of the celluloid scales going, they're starting to disentegrate. Notice how they're starting to crack, and the bolsters are turning colors. Do not store this knife with your other knives. The gasses given off when celluloid goes bad will not only destroy that knife, but will eat up any other knife in its vicinity.

Wow. I had no idea about knives off gassing. Thank you very much for the heads up. I figured there wasn't much monetary value to be had, but I didn't want to devalue the knife any further. Are there any ways to stop the damage from increasing?

Do a search here for celluloid. It was a really popular knife scale material, and seemed to really vary in quality. Many of the cell patterns were quite pretty with some really awesome patterns, and it was used for years.

Celluloid is a funny thing. Some stays stable and never gives way. Others will disentegrate before your eyes. The lighter colors seem to be more prone to off gassing than the darker ones. Some seem to outgass to a certain point then become stable for a long time. Exposure to light and heat seems to make it worse too.

Some folks avoid celluloid like the plague. Others have no problem with it. Once it starts, the safest thing is to remove the scales completely.

Colonel26 wrote:Do a search here for celluloid. It was a really popular knife scale material, and seemed to really vary in quality. Many of the cell patterns were quite pretty with some really awesome patterns, and it was used for years.

Celluloid is a funny thing. Some stays stable and never gives way. Others will disentegrate before your eyes. The lighter colors seem to be more prone to off gassing than the darker ones. Some seem to outgass to a certain point then become stable for a long time. Exposure to light and heat seems to make it worse too.

Some folks avoid celluloid like the plague. Others have no problem with it. Once it starts, the safest thing is to remove the scales completely.

Well I certainly wouldn't get a very heated argument from my wife about removing the scales, haha.

I suspect the knife might have been made by or distributed by a company named Thornton.

I've seen very similar knives with their name on them.

Don't know if they made their own knives. They might have bought handleless knives from a manufacturer, then added the risqué celluloid handles.

Take heed of all the above information re' old celluloid.

Personally, I think it's a five dollar knife. Although, their are collectors of "Vintage Erotica". They may put more value on because of its content.

Keep it away from your other knives.

Charlie Noyes