Help me I.D. this mountain Knife

[OldYooper]

I have never seen a fixed blade knife with this way of attaching the handles to the knife. See Pictures.

[Gunsil]

Not really a "mountain man" knife, it's a kitchen/butcher knife probably from the early 1900s when the cast bolsters and designs were common.

[orvet]

If I'm not mistaken, the cast bolsters are made from pewter.
I have some Wallkill River Works butter knives that are made with cast pewter bolsters. I believe Queen also used a variation of this on some of their earlier knives.

[doglegg]

I have never seen a fixed blade knife with this way of attaching the handles to the knife. See Pictures.IMG_3122.jpeg

If you live in the mountains it might be. A very unusual and classy old knife. Congrats.

[Gunsil]

If I'm not mistaken, the cast bolsters are made from pewter.
I have some Wallkill River Works butter knives that are made with cast pewter bolsters. I believe Queen also used a variation of this on some of their earlier knives.

Many many companies used the cast bolsters and designs on table cutlery and kitchen/butcher cutlery. I have also seen Russell and NYK products with this feature. I agree, they used pewter for the bolsters and inlays.

[Killgar]

The knife pictured below appears to be identical. It's marked "American Cutlery Company".

This knife is described as an 1880 Pawnee trade knife, but I know better than to believe everything I read .

Screenshot 2025-09-02 085349.png (172.54 KiB) Viewed 1522 times

Screenshot 2025-09-02 085412.png (184.56 KiB) Viewed 1522 times

[orvet]

The knife pictured below appears to be identical. It's marked "American Cutlery Company".

This knife is described as an 1880 Pawnee trade knife, but I know better than to believe everything I read .

I share your skepticism that it may have been a Pawnee trade knife. However, it could be possible. I find it more likely that a knife made for trade with the Indians would have been made as cheaply as possible. The poured bolsters are a nice decorative touch, but I think the extra cost they represent would make it unlikely that these would be widely traded to the Indians. It might have been given as a special gift to a chief, but it seems unlikely to me that a trader would go to the extra expense on something that was common trade goods to the Indian community at large.

[Gunsil]

"This knife is described as an 1880 Pawnee trade knife, but I know better than to believe everything I read"

I agree totally with the believe part. The "fur trade" was basically over by the civil war and the knife looks to be early 1900s. the sheath looks rather new but I suppose it could have been traded to a Pawnee even last week.