All About Pocket Knives

Hello, I have an old knife here with no markings on it. I don’t know anything about knifes, but it seems to be high quality and handmade, possibly for wwii. Or a hunting knife. I’ve looked for hours at knives on eBay and google trying to find something about it but have resorted now to asking for help from experts. I truly appreciate any information and history, I’m just very curious as history is interesting to me, and I’d love to learn something. Thank you

more photo

willc11 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 7:48 am Hello, I have an old knife here with no markings on it. I don’t know anything about knifes, but it seems to be high quality and handmade, possibly for wwii. Or a hunting knife. I’ve looked for hours at knives on eBay and google trying to find something about it but have resorted now to asking for help from experts. I truly appreciate any information and history, I’m just very curious as history is interesting to me, and I’d love to learn something. Thank you

Welcome to the forum. Cool old fixed blade.

Looks to be a very good quality handmade knife. Could have been a “Theater Knife” made aboard a ship during WW II but without some sort of Provenance that’s speculation. The knife stands on its own for the apparent workmanship and give the size and design intended as a “Fighting” knife.

Welcome to the forum. Cool old fixed blade.
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Thank you

Rockingkj wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 9:11 pm Looks to be a very good quality handmade knife. Could have been a “Theater Knife” made aboard a ship during WW II but without some sort of Provenance that’s speculation. The knife stands on its own for the apparent workmanship and give the size and design intended as a “Fighting” knife.

Thank you for the information! Do you know about Frank richtig? Could it be made by him? I got two knives at a sale and one of them was easy to identify as one made by him. But this one has stumped me. I appreciate you

here’s another photo showing size

willc11 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 9:54 pm

Rockingkj wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 9:11 pm Looks to be a very good quality handmade knife. Could have been a “Theater Knife” made aboard a ship during WW II but without some sort of Provenance that’s speculation. The knife stands on its own for the apparent workmanship and give the size and design intended as a “Fighting” knife.

Thank you for the information! Do you know about Frank richtig? Could it be made by him? I got two knives at a sale and one of them was easy to identify as one made by him. But this one has stumped me. I appreciate you

Certainly not a Richtig. Overall construction of handle tells me so. Show the other one you got on the sale. It it marked Richtig?

Wishful thinking I guess lol, do you think you could put a value on it for me? Thank you again for help.

Here is a picture of the other knife

Rockingkj wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2024 12:10 am

willc11 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 9:54 pm

Rockingkj wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 9:11 pm Looks to be a very good quality handmade knife. Could have been a “Theater Knife” made aboard a ship during WW II but without some sort of Provenance that’s speculation. The knife stands on its own for the apparent workmanship and give the size and design intended as a “Fighting” knife.

Thank you for the information! Do you know about Frank richtig? Could it be made by him? I got two knives at a sale and one of them was easy to identify as one made by him. But this one has stumped me. I appreciate you

Certainly not a Richtig. Overall construction of handle tells me so. Show the other one you got on the sale. It it marked Richtig?

Forgot Mention, It is not marked either

The second knife meets the correct look of Richtig. Too bad it’s unmarked. Can you tell if it once had a lanyard at the pommel end?

Rockingkj wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2024 12:36 am The second knife meets the correct look of Richtig. Too bad it’s unmarked. Can you tell if it once had a lanyard at the pommel end?

I read that he was visited by the War Department, and was told not to use so many materials. He thought that was bull and did it anyway because he thought quality weapons were important for the war, and avoided marking his knives to avoid any kickback from the War Dept.

That’s why I thought maybe the other knife could be a richtig too, since it’s unmarked, and all the wwii knives I see on eBay are marked with something.

How do I go about finding a value for the not a richtig knife?

Here’s a picture of the pommel end on the richtig, I’m not sure if it had a lanyard before.
Thank you

Never heard the War Department story and not marking due to that. The fighting knives generally had a lanyard hole. That was an extension of the tang.

Here is Richtig sales display Frank used. Has the Aluminum handled knives. He also made leather washer hunting knives This is not a display I own. I have used this picture as a reference to the knives Richtig made.

Welcome to AAPK.

Regarding the knife’s value, it’s an unmarked knife, from an unknown maker. Which means there’s not likely a sale of a comparable knife from which to determine a value. It’s a question frequently asked here, especially by new members. Nothing wrong with that. But quite often getting a good answer, let alone an answer at all, is an unrealistic expectation.

There’s a thread here titled “What’s it worth?” that was made a “sticky”, so that it stays at the top of threads in the General Knife Discussion forum here. It hopefully will be easily found and read - it has some good advice for folks asking how much their knife is worth. https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kn ... hp?t=77592

Ken

The link Ken provided is good guidance to value. I have always found that subjective and everyone’s tastes are a bit different. Unmarked one of a kind knives are even more challenge. For me it’s how much I like the knife and I ask myself if it was x $ would I be a buyer? Some intangible trigger in my head that says that’s cool, the price is good buy it. Pricing for sale is almost the same process asking myself what is a reasonable price I think someone would be willing to give?

When buying a knife I prefer the seller to set the price. Too much, I can smile and politely pass. Reasonable price in my mind I could a buyer. The “make me an offer” I has the pitfall that the seller usually has a figure in mind and if the offer is below their expectations they can get kinda testy about it. The conversion usually starts; buyer “How much do you want?” Seller Answer “I don’t know what it’s worth. Make me an offer.” Buyer “I would give X $.” Seller with inflated amount in head “ It’s worth 10X that!” Buyer thinking and sometimes saying out loud “You just said you don’t know what it’s worth.” We’ve all been there.

willc11 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2024 12:51 am I’m not sure if it had a lanyard before.

It appears to me that it has been cut off.

by Rockingkj » Sun Mar 03, 2024 1:10 am
When buying a knife I prefer the seller to set the price. Too much, I can smile and politely pass.

Then you are missing out on some deals by not making a counter offer. I have bought a lot of things from people who honestly don't know how much their item is worth and just throw out a number to start things off. After some "discussion" I usually buy for about 1/2 of their original number and close to or below my internal estimate.

OLDE CUTLER wrote: ↑Mon Mar 04, 2024 2:34 pm by Rockingkj » Sun Mar 03, 2024 1:10 am
When buying a knife I prefer the seller to set the price. Too much, I can smile and politely pass.

Then you are missing out on some deals by not making a counter offer. I have bought a lot of things from people who honestly don't know how much their item is worth and just throw out a number to start things off. After some "discussion" I usually buy for about 1/2 of their original number and close to or below my internal estimate.

Oh if they provide a starting point, I may make an offer. It’s the folks that want me to provide a number for the beginning that may pose a challenge. The advantage of face to face deals is the opportunity for each person to assess the individual. My non starter is the person with a common knife and puts a high price tag on it. I figure any realistic offer would be rejected. For something I want I will certainly bargain on it. Heck the dickering is half the fun.

The OP looks like it might be a bayonet cut down to current size.

Ray