All About Pocket Knives

Hi all, I have this old knife from ww1 period. Can anyone help me find the makers name please. I don’t know if it’s British or not but it doesn’t show up in any of The Sheffield makers registers. Any help with dating or naming the maker would be a great help.

Welcome, I can't help with your question but it is a very sweet old knife and a wonderfully full blade. Also love those handles.

Possibly Friedrich Herder.

Im curious how you know its ww1 era? If it is, then you have a date range. Im not saying it's not, but dating something is tough without knowing the maker.

The blade shape actually looks Japanese to me, but the tang remnants do not. Those look English or French.

Cool knife regardless though

ThatWeirdKnifeGuy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2024 12:33 pm Im curious how you know its ww1 era? If it is, then you have a date range. Im not saying it's not, but dating something is tough without knowing the maker.

The blade shape actually looks Japanese to me, but the tang remnants do not. Those look English or French.

Cool knife regardless though

It was brought back from France by a relative after WW1, but I was curious as to when it was made and where it was made. The cross keys look to be inside a diamond with the words trade and mark on either side. But no other marks. Could it be early Friedrich Herder as I have just read that he applied for the keys trademark in 1840 and granted 1848? I’m struggling to find any other example on a knife blade

Herder might be correct, but the crossed keys mark, and the bolsters, remind of J. Nowill & Sons, Sheffield. I haven’t seen anything saying Nowill mark included the diamond however.

I have no idea how to judge the age especially if it was “brought back” to the U.S. which means it did not have to comply with the 1890 tariff act marking regulations on imports.

Ken

That typical construction with the bolsters and the chunky covers reminds of Sheffield also, but the blade shape is throwing me off..

1418arras wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2024 12:55 pm

ThatWeirdKnifeGuy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2024 12:33 pm Im curious how you know its ww1 era? If it is, then you have a date range. Im not saying it's not, but dating something is tough without knowing the maker.

The blade shape actually looks Japanese to me, but the tang remnants do not. Those look English or French.

Cool knife regardless though

It was brought back from France by a relative after WW1, but I was curious as to when it was made and where it was made. The cross keys look to be inside a diamond with the words trade and mark on either side. But no other marks. Could it be early Friedrich Herder as I have just read that he applied for the keys trademark in 1840 and granted 1848? I’m struggling to find any other example on a knife blade

Super cool! I love a knife's story more than the steel and bone sometimes. That definitely seems a plausible origin story. Bummer that he had to wait 8 years for approval! Incidentally, 1848 is the year my home state of Wisconsin became a state, just to put things in a local historical perspective.

You might continue in your struggle to find another for a while. There's probably just not many around still. It's awesome that yours is in the shape that it is. Cool family relic.

glennbad wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2024 3:12 pm That typical construction with the bolsters and the chunky covers reminds of Sheffield also, but the blade shape is throwing me off..

Almost looks like this one