All About Pocket Knives

Good evening and Happy Thanksgiving. I'm posting about an old pocket knife my dad had that I've been trying to get identified and yes, to sell too. I read the "What's it Worth" article and I can appreciate both sides of the issue, sellers with no idea of values and buyers/advisors getting requests for help. I have done the search on Ebay to find comparable knives with really nothing showing up either in the "for sale" or "sold" listings. I have listed it on a Facebook group with some great suggestions on finding out it's provenance as to the owner but again not finding any examples to match it up with. I don't want to be set some ridiculously high or low price but currently I'm batting zero on accomplishing that.

The knife has a plate on it identifying the owner as Cheney Prentis from Waitsfield Vermont. A tip from the FB group was to look up Cheney in Waitsfield. I found the Prentis family in a couple of sources and Cheney was born in 1813 and passed in 1900. He was a farmer and I believe a member of Odd Fellows. Beyond that nothing else. I'm making an assumption it's potentially from around the 1860 forward to 1900.

My dad probably obtained the knife from his dad who was a auctioneer in Randolph Vermont and he did many estate sale through out Central Vermont. My grandfather would buy up any remaining unsold items at the end of an auction and would sell items in future auctions. He amassed a huge amount of things and when he died my dad and his brother disposed of most of the items but they each gleaned out items of interest to them. This knife, I believe, is an example.

The knife has some wooden inlays on one side and the plate mentioned above on the other. There are no apparent maker's marks any where on the knife. There is a blade and what I believe is a fish scaler blade. It was found with the well worn leather pouch. I'll include pictures. Could it have been a presentation gift?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. If I could find comparable examples I can work on pricing but for now I'm stuck. Thanks for your assistance. Brian

Interesting old knife. Thanks for showing it here, and welcome to AAPK.

I can’t see any maker’s markings in your pictures, and your description mentions nothing about any stamps or markings on the knife to indicate who made it, or where. If the knife has any stamps please show a clear picture of them. The absence of any country of origin marking would indicate it was made in USA, or it predates the 1895 Tariff Act which required items made abroad and imported for sale here be marked with the COO. From its appearance my guess would be the latter. Most knives of that vintage made by a prominent cutlery were stamped with the maker’s name.

If not, that leaves the conundrum of determining value of an item for which direct comparable sales can’t be found. My advice would be to sell it at auction (eBay or similar) and let bidders determine the value. Or take a guess at a price you want, and would be satisfied with, and see if you get any offers at that price. If no offers then you can re-assess and if you still want to sell it, list it again at a reduced price.

If you want to sell it here on AAPK you will need to buy a premium subscription. Details about that can be found by clicking on “Support AAPK” on the upper right of this page. After buying a subscription you can offer it for sale in the Knife Commerce listings. viewforum.php?f=49

Ken

The secondary blade looks to me to be a saw used for wood or more likely sawing bone for butchering game. It's a very interesting knife. My first guess would be German made and second guess would be English although the English were pretty good about stamping makers marks on theirs. It could be French also.____Dave

That is a beautiful knife!
I wonder if it might be a custom made knife - either made for or made by Mr Prentice.
The craftsmanship is very good, and it does have some sort of European flair, but it could have been made by a cutler who immigrated here.
There are many possibilities, and I am sorry that I have no answers.
But welcome to AAPK!

On the fourth photo, it looks like there may be a maker mark or some kind of marking on the tang (base of the blade). It's a little hard to tell because of the resolution, but a closer look may help. If you open the blade halfway, you might be able to see the mark a little better (if there is, indeed, any mark at all)

Dimitri if you're looking at this thread I would be very interested in your comments on this knife and I'm sure others would as well. This is a very interesting knife. Uncommon.

Thank you for the numerous comments, your feedback is greatly appreciated. I will take a closer look at the tang of the blades. Re: the saw blade/fish scaler, one of my sister's thought saw blade also. I've been exploring further on the web but still not finding anything that looks like this knife with the engraved plate and the decorative symbols on the other side. I'll keep searching! Brian