Help from a Pro Please!

[Khopesh]

Could one (or more) of the Professionals here PLEASE tell me, if possible, what it is I have here. I am an amateur collector, although I’ve been collecting knives for 38 years. I cannot dredge up info on this knife anywhere. Some come close, but the blade length, etc. are never the same as mine.

There are no visible Maker’s marks/Manufacturer, and no badge to identify it. The only stamping on it is “MADE IN ITALY”.
When open, the total length is 5 and 3/16 inches. The blade from housing to tip is 2 and 1/8+ inches. The handle is dark bone(?), not plastic, I can see the striations in the bone. The blade is contoured, not scalloped.
Oh! It’s a folding, (pin lock?), knife. The pin is round, and not square like the newer, cheap versions, ie. Kissing Crane, etc.
Hopefully I’ve given enough details, and took detailed pics to give ya’ll enough to go with making a determination.
I’m new here, looking forward to future discussions.

[knife-nut]

The handle looks like horn to me. The little holes are from a bug that eats holes in horn handles.

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

In my limited experience, stilettos that are stamped "Made in Italy" have often never been anywhere near Italy, or even Europe.

[Khopesh]

AHHH! That makes sense! There are two spots that have this, and I was wondering why the holes are so rounded, rather than being jagged, let’s say from a drop on the floor. It has the feel,smell (if that makes any sense to you) of an old knife, probably at least a few decades. The mechanism is remarkably tight for its age, other than when fully open the round pin is a tab smaller than the hole, making it a bit flexible, but not sloppy. My guess is it’s just from years of opening and closing.
Thanks for the reply. I’ve done several refined, detailed searches over various forums, catalogues, and the like and cannot find exactly where it’s origin is.
One detail I didn’t post was the 3 brass(?) pins holding the body together are not quite flush with the body. The middle ones rise higher than the body, but it’s almost as if it was intentional. It’s like the pins are rounded so as not to be uncomfortable in the hand, but to help with grip or something.
Thanks for the reply! Keep ‘me coming!!!

[Khopesh]

Supposed to say ‘keep them coming!(the replies),
Friggi’n autocorrect... LOL

[Mumbleypeg]

I'm no expert on stiletto style knives, but looking at the knife it appears to be an inexpensive import. Despite that it's horn the handles appear to be poorly fitted to the bolsters, the bolsters look cheaply stamped and as you've pointed out the pins aren't well fitted either. There were a lot of these inexpensive Italian made imports around in the 50s and 60s. Analogous to today's cheap tactical style Chinese imports. Yours may be a better grade but still if it was higher quality the maker would gave put their name on it. We called them Saturday night specials, pig stickers, frog stickers, and so on.

Ken

[Khopesh]

That’s makes sense! I figured it wasn’t rare or anything, and someone good at their trade would have been proud enough to put their mark on it. It’s just that other than the pins, it feels of a good quality, and it still is holding together quite well for its age. The materials aren’t screaming “CHINA!”
Thanks for the reply!

[Khopesh]

Oh, do you know if the round pin/lock is telltale of any area or era?

[gsmith7158]

Supposed to say ‘keep them coming!(the replies),
Friggi’n autocorrect... LOL

Well, it's refreshing to see that someone else has as much trou le with auto correct as i do!

[knife7knut]

In my opinion it was made in Italy likely some time after 1958. The pattern is the same as the switchblades made by many makers in Italy in the 1940's and 1950's. The banning of switchblades in interstate commerce in the USA in 1957 put an end to their importation. I believe some of the makers then turned to making them without the button release and spring and used the handles already produced by plugging the button hole and adding a nail mark to the blade.
Yours appears to be one of the less common smaller versions.I have many of these and for the most part they seem to be of the same quality as the switchblades which were fair to good.Nice little knife.

[Khopesh]

Thank you so much for your reply.
It’s what I wanted to hear!
Not that I would sell the knife, because it fits so well in hand and pocket, and seems well put together, but what would the value be of a knife of this sort? I ask because I only paid $20 for it. It seemed like a good investment. I my opinion it’s the definition of a ‘pocket knife.
Very nice picture of your stilettos there! I’m a tad jealous!LOL

[alabama]

not a pro but sold knives for 35 years--in the 80s there were a lot of larger size ones around-looked aged then-small ones are harder to find-large ones bring more-in early 80s I ordered a lot of knives like this (larger) from Matthews cutlery-Decatur Georgia-owned by blueridge now...they were made in Italy then-now many Italian marked ones are china made...it is generic stiletto-horn handle-horn slabs were always sticking up-not flush with bolsters-wholesale on 8 inch BLADE ones was 18-20 dollars (plastic)...popular from 1950s to now...I recently sold 2-8 inch BLADE ones to 90something year old ww2 vet from little italian country beside Italy-he said they carried them in ww2-I asked-this big? yes he replied-I'm going to give them to my nephews-he paid 100 for stag german kissing crane-75 for horn Italian...he lied about his age and fought...

[Khopesh]

Thanks for the info!
I can’t tell you how many old-timers tell that story about embellishing their age in order to get into the service. Back then for a lot of guys it was starve or get into a war and hopefully not get shot or blown up! They didn’t even care about the latter, as long as they could serve their country.
Times are different now, that’s for sure.
My dad did the same thing, and ended up a career Marine, later to work for another part of the Military Industrial Complex.
We need more guys like those old timers nowadays...

[alabama]

the old guy bought one then another 2 weeks later- I put it aside for him--I said...I will hold it until next week for you-he replied-wont be here next week-PLAYING IN A GOLF TOURNAMINT-in his 90s..

[eveled]

My family name was changed by my great grandfather when he lied about his age, said he was an orphan, and went to WWI at 13 yo.

Dan Bullock was 15 when he died in Vietnam. He is the youngest person on the wall.

Sorry for the thread drift.

[Khopesh]

No worries Brother. I drifted and took it in that direction myself. They deserve a mention though! If it wasn’t for them we’d all be speaking something other than English!

[Khopesh]

No worries Brother. I drifted and took it in that direction myself. They deserve a mention though! If it wasn’t for them we’d all be speaking something other than English!