All About Pocket Knives

I picked up this old Puma a few days ago. I have not seen a Puma with a stacked leather handle before.
With the "Texas" stamp on the pile side of the blade, I'm assuming it was made for a company in Texas or for sale in Texas.

The leather has shrunken and it needs to be replaced, but before I do that I would like to find out more about the knife, it's age and perhaps it's value. If it's very old or very rare, I will probably leave it as is. But if there's no great value I think it would be a fun restoration project.

I look forward to any information you and share with me about it.

Thank you in advance.

Really interesting knife Dale. I can't wait for the experts to tell us what you have. I wish I was smarter.____Dave

I believe it is missing the rest of the blade markings. I had a near mint one that said "Texas Bill" with a cowboy etched between Texas and Bill. I have no proof but was told "Texas Bill" was a radio show in Germany in the 1950s. Somebody else told me the radio show was late 1930s.

Thanks for the info guys. At least I know a little bit more. I showed the knife to Bill Clawson, some of you may be familiar with his monthly knife flyer, and he thought it was probably pre- World War II or just post war.
I know when I was managing the cutlery store in the 1980s we sold Pumas, but I never saw it any Puma with a stacked leather handle in that time frame.

A LOT of information about Texas Bill Strength here:
http://www.hillbilly-music.com/artists/ ... p?id=11253

Great information Jerry, thank you!

I did a web search and found where a Texas Bill knife had sold for $300. From the look of it it was pretty much in mint condition. The seller dated it Circa 1970. I didn't see a date of when the knife was sold. The site had great pictures of the knife that was sold.
https://www.pumaknifeman.com/puma_knife/texas-bill/

Because of the pitting on my knife, the picture of Texas Bill and the word "Bill" are not visible. My knife is a far cry from mint, but it should be a fun restoration project.

Dale, With the sheath in the link you provided marked Western Germany it would indicate the sheath was made sometime between 1949 and 1990. The knife was likely a special offer of some type and as you said the construction isn't what you would expect from a regular production Puma knife.

Dale, Puma made many models with leather handles but I don't think they all came to America. They did make a bunch of leather handled models for the US market before the war. Wayne, my minty one did not have Western Germany on the sheath. I think I got $300 or close to it for mine too.