All About Pocket Knives

Here is a W. J. Henderson & sons Macon Ga. Not mine just researching for a freind

Monte

More pics

Another pic

Have you determined how old the knife is?

I believe its cival war era. It has 12th cav carved in handle.

Interesting old knife, Monte. Looks like the maker did not have a company stamp so he hand stamped each letter. I do not know how common that is, but I do not recall seeing such a long and detailed stamp done in that fashion.

I thought it looked odd Dan, the use of large and small upper case lettering has me wondering. The owner thinks it was made in1865. I have nothing to compare it to.

I don't know a thing about the subject. Mark Zalesky of Knife World (uh... now KNIFE MAGAZINE) is extremely knowledgable about bowie knives and so is Bernard Levine, who invites submissions to his column in that magazine. I would suggest that as the very best further investigative move. This is what you want: Just turn your computer monitor upside down. lol. I have tried to fix it.

Here you go:

The brass guard and tapered handle are not normal for a Civil War era Bowie. Strange that such an elaborate stamp would be applied one letter at a time on such a primitive looking knife. The knife looks very much like the multitude of Pakistani made Bowie knives right down to the 3 pin handle.

Thanks for the input TR, Mel, and Wayne, I will pass it on.

Monte

I do not have enough knowledge of civil war era knives to make a judgement call about the knife. However, after thinking about it for a bit,the 12 CAV carving is almost too good to believe. Not the quality(!), but the way it so perfectly dates and authenticates the knife. Too perfectly, I think.

....I know nothing...but maybe a re-enactor's knife? Pretty cool stamp though that's for sure. Curious to see some more info on this one...

Mel, the CSA 12th cavalry was from same area as Macon. On the other side of the handle is a name Bill W . Also on the blade there is a CS stamp.
Mike, I never thought about it being a reinactor knife. Thats very possible. I' m going to send a pic and info to Mr Levine.
Monte

I am far from being a Bowie expert but IMO the OP knife is a bit too contrary to what I would expect and too good to be true as far as the way it is marked.

Confederate Bowies are some of the most often counterfeited knives. Proving one to be authentic would be much harder a task than to prove one a fake.

Here is a picture of one of the typical Pakistan marked Bowie knives.

Wayne, I think the OP knife and the one you just posted look alot alike. When my freind called me about the knife I was skeptcal. Now even more so. Cival war memorbilia is not my game. I appreciate the photo I'll let him read this thread and make his own decision.


Monte

If you look at the guard of the OP knife as compared to the Pakistan knife photo you can see that the OP guard may have been bent from the original angled position to an attempt to straighten it. It also looks as if the downward curve at the pommel was ground off.

btrwtr wrote:If you look at the guard of the OP knife as compared to the Pakistan knife photo you can see that the OP guard may have been bent from the original angled position to an attempt to straighten it. It also looks as if the downward curve at the pommel was ground off.

Wayne, IMHO, I believe you got this one right on. In the Wikipedia article below on bowie knives (originally linked, by jerryd6818, in another thread right beside this one and titled "What Makes a Bowie?"), there is a photo of a knife almost identical to the fake Pakistani one posted by Wayne.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowie_knife

Dan