H. Keschner Knife

[orvet]

Recently my wife has become interested in researching her family history. In the process of doing this she located a cousin who she had not seen in nearly 40 years. It turns out her cousin and his wife only live about 35 to 40 miles from us. Three weekends ago we went to visit them.

Her cousin was a pharmacist in the Silverton Oregon area for many years. They live in that general area now. Her cousin is one of those people who collects ‘things.’ He collects antiques, he collects military weapons, he even collects a few knives. While he may not be a knife collector per se, knives can fall in the category of antiques or in the category military weapons. He also had a couple of nice custom knives that he had made years ago.

In his collecting he had been very methodical. He had a series of 12" x 14" display boxes full of small items, many from the local area. He had these arranged roughly by date. In one of these boxes I saw a small advertising knife. He was gracious enough to remove the knife from the box so I could look at it. His wife scanned the knife I e-mailed us the pictures.

I thought I would post the pictures here and the story that goes with them because I know you guys like knives!

While the scans may not be the best, I think they do show what the knife looks like. It also shows that someone put the master blade on a grinder sometime in the past.

The tang stamp on the mark side this knife reads:
H. KESCHNER
GERMANY

The Tang stamp on the pile side is: DIAMOND

The advertisement on the knife is the same on both sides and reads as follows:
CUSTERS QUALITY STORE
THE HOME OF GOOD GOODS
SILVERTON OREGON


While there is very little information I could find on this knife, what I did find was consistent with the markings of the knife and with the historical context in which he had placed the knife. The knife in a glass topped display box with other items old dating around the 1920s, and many of those items were related to the local Silverton Oregon area.

The only books I have that mention the H. Keschner company are “Levine's Guide to Knives and Their Values" vol. 4 and "Goin's Encyclopedia of Cutlery Markings."
Levine dates the company at circa 1920 and that perhaps they were an ad specialty company. Goin's gives a date range of 1920 to 1940 and notes that "diamond" is stamped on the front tang.

In this example, "diamond" was actually on the tang of the secondary blade. The other markings and the fact that the knife was grouped with items he knew to be from the 1920s seems to verify both Levine's & Goin's dating.

This knife is not the ultimate discovery in anyone's collection, but I thought it was fascinating how this knife from a rather obscure German company, found its way across the Atlantic, across the United States and across 90 years of history to Silverton Oregon and a 12” x 14” box of historical items from the 1920s.

Dale

[Umcknifeguy]

Very interesting knife Orvet. Thanks for sharing it with us

[orvet]

Moved thread to European Knife forum.

[JPHICKS]

I have a knife stamped H.Keshner Germany on one side and "Antelope" in cursive on the other. The handle is an advertisment for Peoples Bank Silverton, Oregon Capital & Surplus $40,000.00
This knife was one of many left to me by my grandfather who was born in Silverton. If you would like, I can send you a picture.

[philco]

Neat little piece of history. Thanks for posting.

[New_Windsor_NY]

This afternoon, this became the latest pocket knife to join my collection. It came in a group of four pocket knives that I bought (not for this particular knife). It's a DIAMOND - H. KESCHNER - GERMANY, two blades, 2 tang stamps, 3" closed, all metal, advertising pocket knife. The main side says "SOLDIER'S HOME - SOUVENIR - ERIE CO. OHIO.", the other side says the same thing, "SOLDIER'S HOME - SOUVENIR - ERIE CO. OHIO." Per GOINS, "DIAMOND g 1900-1910 "H Keschner Germany" is stamped on the back of the tang." It's in good condition with only minimal cleaning being needed. I took some pictures and here it is.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

[jg6233]

I picked up an H Keschner knife a few weeks ago at an estate sale. It was loose in a tool box wirh 4 pristine Case knives and a less than pristine Red Ryder knife. I paid $20 out the door for all. I just started researching the Kesxhner today and found tbis forum. The markiuon the tang are exactly like the one in the last post but harder to read. It is the same yellow with no advertising. I know it’s an old thread. But maybe some one will find it interesting.

These knives are the first in my collection other than a couple given to me by parents when I was a kid or young adult. Thanks for reading.