All About Pocket Knives

here is a coffin bolster marked camillus pen knife .
i have run into a dead end translating or researching this camillus advertising or commemorative knife.

Can anyone help? What was it for?

CutleryCollector-com wrote: ↑Thu Dec 04, 2025 12:51 am here is a coffin bolster marked camillus pen knife .
i have run into a dead end translating or researching this camillus advertising or commemorative knife.

Can anyone help? What was it for?

AndenKen is German for souvenir. So Souvenir of Camillus is first line .
Second line ,best I can do is “ delegate ( or delegation ) of October 7 th , 1917 .
Mr KASTOR the founder of Camillus was from Germany , so there’s a connection there I would think .
Are there any tang stamps ? Great knife !

It’s a souvenir knife, the words on the handle are German. Literally “In Memory of Camillus, N.Y. Delegates Day, 7 October, 1917”, but an alternate meaning is “a souvenir (or memory) of delegate’s day”. I’m not sure what delegate’s day was, (apparently something German) , but maybe with an online search you can find more info.

Ken

It's a Camillus older stamp on both blades. When I put that date in search engines it brings up a conference in Germany. Perhaps that is the reason for the German instead of English? Imitation ivory celluloid. Definitely a Camillus knife. Assembled differently than The Kastor German coffin bolster knives.

CutleryCollector-com wrote: ↑Thu Dec 04, 2025 1:08 am It's a Camillus older stamp on both blades. When I put that date in search engines it brings up a conference in Germany. Perhaps that is the reason for the German instead of English? Imitation ivory celluloid. Definitely a Camillus knife. Assembled differently than The Kastor German coffin bolster knives.

Checked out that conference as well . Some very influential people there, mostly military .Was at a time when we were at war with Germany but peace talks had begun among some nations. Hard to say why Camillus would manufacture a
Knife like this at that time in the big war .
Wikipedia stated several things but didn’t seem relevant.
Maybe one of our history buffs will come along and be of help .
Sure am curious now !

Serious doubts about any Camillus knife being manufactured in the middle of WWI for German use. I would guess it may have been made at a later time as an anniversary commemorative of the event. The event was the Kreuznach Conference, chaired by Kaiser Wilhelm II, between the German government and military for planning the rest of WWI. The real mystery is why Germany, with all its knife producing capability, would have an American company contract for the production. Could it have been for the 30th anniversary in 1947 when they were still devastated?? Interesting topic. J.O'.