All About Pocket Knives

We have here a William Rodgers Bowie, possibly... It looks like the name etc has been removed from the blade and the Trade Mark has a letter D double stamped after it. It looks to have been re handled at some time. ??
9 1/4" Blade and 14" overall.

Couple more photos; It's difficult to get a good view of the part where it looks like the name has been removed. Note the double stamp of the D

Just out of curiosity why do you think it is by William Rodgers? Usually(but not always)their knives were stamped,"I Cut My Way" on the pile side.The stamp that is on there is (in my opinion)a bogus attempt to duplicate the Joseph Rodgers stamp and a poor one at that. For one thing the stamp is upside down and the star is eight pointed(a Rodgers star has 6 points)and is supposed to be before the cross.The crossguard is too small for the size of the knife.
A real Rodgers spear point bowie is usually flat ground rather than saber ground. I am far from being a bowie expert but I own a Rodgers bowie of that size and it bears little resemblance to that one.
A nine inch blade is not that common on later knives so I would agree that it is an earlier knife and a pretty nice one to boot. Here is a picture of mine for comparison.

I had my doubts that it was a Rodgers, hence the 'possibly'. I've read that their markings were often copied. I hadn't noticed the points on the star, but had observed that the mark was back to front/upside down.
The small crossguard and grind of the blade are the sort of things that I would not have known about.
I thought that someone might know for certain, what I had suspected!
I think it is a nice knife anyway, as you say and I paid a reasonable price. Now to find out who DID make it!
Many thanks

k7k, Rodgers spearpoints are not necessarily flat ground at all. I have had many Rodgers bowie type knives and flat or saber ground in both spear and clip point blades. It seems to me that the earlier knives were all saber ground and the later ones flat ground. The guard on the OP knife looks like a quality guard similar to late model Rodgers knives, the star and cross look a little funny and I have no idea where the D came from, the handles definitely look like replacements. All the fake Rodgers knives I have seen were made in India and seldom have nice nickel guards, they usually have brass guards. Most say number 6 Sheffield Steel and have the cross and star. k7k's knife is a later knife, the earlier ones didn't have ball end guards and the sheath is a later sheath also. It is a VERY nice knife!! Making me drool!!

Gunsil wrote: Rodgers spearpoints are not necessarily flat ground at all. I have had many Rodgers bowie type knives and flat or saber ground in both spear and clip point blades. It seems to me that the earlier knives were all saber ground and the later ones flat ground. The guard on the OP knife looks like a quality guard similar to late model Rodgers knives, the star and cross look a little funny and I have no idea where the D came from, the handles definitely look like replacements. All the fake Rodgers knives I have seen were made in India and seldom have nice nickel guards, they usually have brass guards. Most say number 6 Sheffield Steel and have the cross and star.

Many thanks for the info; I'm learning all the time!

John Nowill & Sons Trade mark incorporates a Star and 'D'. Nowill and John Rogers were apparently sued by Joseph Rogers for selling knives mimicking his name. Perhaps this is what is going on here? Nowill registered his Cross Keys in 1842.
Marsh Bros & Co, Wostenholm & Sons (EBRO), J. Elliot & Sons and Wade & Butcher all incorporated the Maltese Cross design in their marks.

Whilst still searching for a maker for this knife, I came across a piece on a Bowie marketed by Graveley and Wreakes. The cross guard is different, but the rivets and material of the handle look to be the same, as are the style and dimensions of the blade. Any thoughts??
http://thefifthfield.com/swt/graveley-w ... wie-knife/

Unclebob wrote:Whilst still searching for a maker for this knife, I came across a piece on a Bowie marketed by Graveley and Wreakes. The cross guard is different, but the rivets and material of the handle look to be the same, as are the style and dimensions of the blade. Any thoughts??
http://thefifthfield.com/swt/graveley-w ... wie-knife/

If I recall correctly Bernard Levine did an article on counterfeit and/or fantasy knives and one of the more common forgeries at the time were bowies marked Graveley & Wreakes.He even mentioned that some of them had even misspelled the name Graveley.
I am not saying that the knife in question is a forgery but I would like to see a top view of the knife. Most large knives of this era were forged and had a tapered tang. A knife with a non tapered tang is usually considered to be of much later manufacture due to the blade being blanked by a machine rather than forged. Also I do not remember the correct spelling of the name.
Just my opinion folks.

Thanks for the info and yes, mine has a full, tapered tang.