All About Pocket Knives

Can anyone provide info on early Marbles pocket knives and who made them. It seem like Case may have been involved in the beginning? Is this correct.

Pictures are from Dunathan's The Encyclopedia of Marble's Knives & Sporting Collectables where his theory is only display Sunfish pattern knives were made, and they had a TESTED XX stamp on the blade, like a Case Bros. I presume. Hope this helps and my pictures are legible!

Aside from the recent Chinese-made knockoffs sold by SMKW and the fakes Parker had made, I've never seen a Marbles pocket knife. Goins' says "all (Marbles) pocket knives except the 'safety' pocket knives were contracted out to other manufacturers.". If anybody has an example I'd love to see some pictures.

Ken

Dave Shirley, the founder of Northwoods, arranged for Queen to manufacture some Marbles branded folders in 2000/2001. If you can positively identify a Marbles folder as being from that time frame, there is a good chance it is going to be a beautiful and well built knife.

Here is a Dave Shirley Marbles which Queen made them for him around 2000 which this one is a 2001

hardman wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2019 2:28 am Dave Shirley, the founder of Northwoods, arranged for Queen to manufacture some Marbles branded folders in 2000/2001. If you can positively identify a Marbles folder as being from that time frame, there is a good chance it is going to be a beautiful and well built knife.

Those are great knives, with the production year being incorporated into the Tang stamp. This one is from 2001 like the previous post.

Well, okay I guess, but the OP asked about "early Marbles pocket knives and who made them" . My response was more directed toward that, but I muddied the water when I commented about the more recent knives. I don't consider the Dave Shirley knives as representing early Marbles.

My point was, I don't think there were any "early Marbles" pocket knives produced. I'd be delighted to be wrong though, and would like to see a legitimate example if someone has one.

Ken

Ken, I do not own one, the one I held in hand like the pearl sunfish in the book was on the block for two grand and that was twenty years back. They do exist but are rarely found. The one I had a chance at was used, excellent condition with some carbon staining and was original. I have never seen another pattern with the Marbles mark, but there may be some out there. A couple years ago a Korn's patent switch made by KA-BAR came to light, some stuff is just so rare we seldom see it.

Thanks for that first-hand input Gene. That supports the comments from the book redrider posted. It says those made "most likely" were samples only, or were not marked M.S.A. Even the pictures shown in the book say the M.S.A. mark shown in the photograph was added to the photo by an artist.

The author also says the same photo from the previous catalog showed a "Tested XX" stamp, in which case the knives would have been Case Brothers knives, not Marbles. The catalog makes no pretext that the knives were produced by Marbles, saying "We could not produce anything better than this line even at 10 times the price."

Ken

I have a Book Webster L. Marble (by Robert E. Schmeling 1996) that shows 23 different Marbles Folding Knives . As stated before It states that We offer a line of Pocket Knives that are just as perfect in every detail of material and workmanship as it is possible to produce anywhere at any price . In fact we could not produce anything better than this line at ten times the price . The blades are hand forged by experts of many years of experience . These men are descendants of many generations of knife blade forgers . All the Knifes have the same pattern #'s that Case produced at that time which leads me to believe that Case Made all of the early Marbles Pocket . It also stated a time frame
(1)1905 Non-Marbles Marked Knives
(2) 1906 First Time offered and Marked as Marbles
(3) 1907 Again offered
(4) 1908 -09 Last year offered in Marble catalog

Gary

kennedy knives wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2019 2:32 am Here is a Dave Shirley Marbles which Queen made them for him around 2000 which this one is a 2001

That’s a beautiful knife Gary. I have thought about buying this one more than once. I love these Marble Knives from that 2000 2001 period and have a few, all are top drawer.

Sharpnshinyknives wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2019 8:11 pm

kennedy knives wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2019 2:32 am Here is a Dave Shirley Marbles which Queen made them for him around 2000 which this one is a 2001

That’s a beautiful knife Gary. I have thought about buying this one more than once. I love these Marble Knives from that 2000 2001 period and have a few, all are top drawer.

Thanks Mark I think there top self also

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I have seen a knife and some info that may shed some light, or maybe just add more questions. I need to make some time to get a picture or two so I can post. Look forward to continuing the conversation. I know there is a lot of knowledge here. Hope to be able to contribute in some small way. Thanks

We had a toenail expert on AAPK, his name was Roger. If you look up at the
AAPK logo you will see RD, that is his initials, he died late 2007-8
He was from Texas and I heard a lot of toenail info from him, some which I remember...
He said a fella I think in Alabama had the by far best collection in the world, and owned both MSA ones as well..
There was a Stag MSA toenail, #5250, and a Pearl #8250...best I recall they were only
selling them 1905-1907 and Case did indeed make em, just like the pic of the stamp
in the catalog above shows....however....
Case made some and this I saw "in person" with the 3 line MSA stamp we been jawing about, but somebody
messed up and the pearl & stag toenail I saw the word "Gladstone" was mis-spelled
Just like above stamp but with "Gladestone" ..a E after the D in Gladstone..and
these were supposedly looked at by Levine and certified correct....
So there is another log to throw on the fire for your OP James

Stag

Here are a few Dave Shirley/Queen Marbles Folders. I now know this is slightly off topic, but I like them and wanted to show them anyway. Sorry.

This next one is a little different. As has been stated, there was a time when Jim Parker, rightly or wrongly, made some Marbles branded knives. Most of them were made in Germany. But not this one. This was one of five that was handmade by Royce Shehorn of Traverse City, MI (I'm told he was out of Traverse City, but I cannot verify that.). It was made as a sample to be submitted by Parker to Marbles. Apparently, Royce could not produce these Elephant Toes fast enough for Mr. Parker, and so the number of Elephant Toes ever sold by Parker was under 100, with only five being made by Mr. Shehorn. Given the discussion above about possible Marbles Elephant Toes, I thought I would show this one.

That ranks right up there as one of the best Elephant Toenails I’ve ever seen. The stag on that is wonderful.

That is one gorgeous knife hardman. Beautiful handles!

Hardman...that is beautiful!!!

hardman wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 9:13 pm This next one is a little different. As has been stated, there was a time when Jim Parker, rightly or wrongly, made some Marbles branded knives. Most of them were made in Germany. But not this one. This was one of five that was handmade by Royce Shehorn of Traverse City, MI (I'm told he was out of Traverse City, but I cannot verify that.). It was made as a sample to be submitted by Parker to Marbles. Apparently, Royce could not produce these Elephant Toes fast enough for Mr. Parker, and so the number of Elephant Toes ever sold by Parker was under 100, with only five being made by Mr. Shehorn. Given the discussion above about possible Marbles Elephant Toes, I thought I would show this one.

Wow Gary, that's a beauty!!

Found a list of Old Marble's Pocket Knives all have the same pattern # as a Case Knife

Very interesting. I would love to see some of these, if any were actually made.

5958 and 5948 remind me a lot of Sheffield-made knives.

cody6268 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 02, 2021 11:48 pm 5958 and 5948 remind me a lot of Sheffield-made knives.

You may be right I don't remember a Case that looks like that?

A Little more from the old Catalogue