All About Pocket Knives

I found two knives that have different tang stamps but look enought alike they could have made by the same cutlery company....
1) Bridge Cutlery St. Louis 1902-1939 A trademark used by Norvell-Shapleigh and Shapleigh
2) Peerless Cutlery Co 1920-1921 513 Broadway New York City
Not only are they in the same time period; the shields are identical in size and shape; both are of good quality and extremely well made
Both have been used but have been fairly well preserved in their orginal condition
Could it be that the same cutlery which made the knives as contract or is it two different cutlery's?
Thanks for looking

Bridge was a brand name owned by Shapleigh. Their knives were made on contract by Empire, Schrade, and Camillus. I have no idea whether Peerless was a manufacturer or a jobber who contracted their knives to be made but have seen some posts speculating some were made by others. I’d have to see more of the knives to form an opinion about who made them. Without knowing more I’d have to say “it’s possible”.

Maybe someone else knows more about Peerless.

Ken

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Sat Feb 03, 2024 4:57 am Bridge was a brand name owned by Shapleigh. Their knives were made on contract by Empire, Schrade, and Camillus. I have no idea whether Peerless was a manufacturer or a jobber who contracted their knives to be made but have seen some posts speculating some were made by others. I’d have to see more of the knives to form an opinion about who made them. Without knowing more I’d have to say “it’s possible”.

Maybe someone else knows more about Peerless.

Ken

Thank you Ken
The peerless knife pattern is that what's called a coffin style?
The Bridge knife pattern is coke bottle or swell center?

The Bridge is a coke bottle style. I normally think of a coffin jack shape being more exaggerated than that one but I suppose it would qualify. Some of the pattern shapes are subjective depending on “the eye of the beholder”. A search here for “coffin” will find some good examples. Both fall under the swell-center jack umbrella.

Ken

Yeah Ken...I think that's a great idea about seeing more of the Peerless knives to compare the Bridge with..
But when I look online; I find one pocket knife on ebay...that knife its shield is stamped... (farmers Guide)
The knife wasn't in the best condition it had one blade broken and needed a good cleaning
The master blade looks similar to my knife and the small blade; if hadn't been broken would probably work also
If I remember correctly the tang stamp was also curved ...I couldn't find much about the Peerless knife history
if interested the knife on ebay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/334789129279

Other than the shields, I don’t see any other similarities.

raincrowe wrote: ↑Sat Feb 03, 2024 4:08 am…..the shields are identical in size and shape; both are of good quality and extremely well made

I applaud you for trying to connect the historical manufacturing dots, it was the wild Wild West back in those days where many manufacturers produced good quality and extremely well made pocket cutlery. I agree that the shields match and that’s a good clue but not enough. I encourage you to continue your research and reach your own conclusion on the hypothesis that they were made under the same roof.

Yeah; I suppose that the shields was the only identical point of the knives!
I think the wild,wild, west scenario was a great description of who and how the the knives were made in the earlier years!!
I guess what I should has asked is... I would like to see other Peerless knives?
Great Stuff...Thanks Again...It always a pleasure to learn and see new and interesting material!!

Those are called Federal shields, and you can still buy them in bulk today. Not surprising that different companies used the same size shield. Tony Bose used the federal shield in some of his newer knives.




https://greateasterncutlery.net/blog/gec-shields/

Thanks Bob....Great information didn't realize you could still get those parts!!