Vintage Mother Of Pearl (MOP) Knives

[edisdead]

H BOKER & CO
SOLINGEN
GERMANY
(on two blades, the main spear point blade omits 'GERMANY')

I just started cleaning up old knives, prompted by helping clear out a relative's life time of clutter.

I thought this was a junk knife with plastic scales when it was given to me by a family member. (Is 'scales' a knife term?) It sat on the 'miscellaneous' shelf of my workshop for a few years. I finally opened a blade and realized it was well made, but highly degraded, perhaps ignored since the MOP cracked and chipped. 2 5/8" long, exclusive of brass loop and split ring. It could serve as a flashy anchor for your watch or key chain.

CEE14EC6-C9BB-4B6E-9F21-5E40B3AB922E.jpeg
1E67585F-5329-4799-B9BC-4C8FC1DF960B.jpeg

Boker was proud enough when they made it. Three blades have the cutler's name and at least seven have the tree branding, including all five edged blades and the two pointy tools.

Is what I think of as a 'pin awl' meant as a pipe stem cleaner? Does what I think of as a long manicure tool/file with a crab claw tip have a standard name? What do I do with the hook? Button my shoes?

I am not sure how to proceed further with clean up. There is enough knife here that I can dink with it for a long time. Too weird and rare for EDC, unless I start wearing a vest and watch chain.

So much workmanship gone into that piece, be worthy of a sympathetic recommissioning imo. I have some thi g similar and yeah it's a weird prospect to "EDC" but EDC it I ocassionally do:)

[edisdead]

H BOKER & CO
SOLINGEN
GERMANY
(on two blades, the main spear point blade omits 'GERMANY')

I just started cleaning up old knives, prompted by helping clear out a relative's life time of clutter.

I thought this was a junk knife with plastic scales when it was given to me by a family member. (Is 'scales' a knife term?) It sat on the 'miscellaneous' shelf of my workshop for a few years. I finally opened a blade and realized it was well made, but highly degraded, perhaps ignored since the MOP cracked and chipped. 2 5/8" long, exclusive of brass loop and split ring. It could serve as a flashy anchor for your watch or key chain.

CEE14EC6-C9BB-4B6E-9F21-5E40B3AB922E.jpeg
1E67585F-5329-4799-B9BC-4C8FC1DF960B.jpeg

Boker was proud enough when they made it. Three blades have the cutler's name and at least seven have the tree branding, including all five edged blades and the two pointy tools.

Is what I think of as a 'pin awl' meant as a pipe stem cleaner? Does what I think of as a long manicure tool/file with a crab claw tip have a standard name? What do I do with the hook? Button my shoes?

I am not sure how to proceed further with clean up. There is enough knife here that I can dink with it for a long time. Too weird and rare for EDC, unless I start wearing a vest and watch chain.

So much workmanship gone into that piece, be worthy of a sympathetic recommissioning imo. I have some thing similar and yeah it's a weird prospect to "EDC" but EDC it I ocassionally do:)

[Ripster]

Early Camillus whittler.

Morning Greg Must say that’s the most impressive Camillus Whittler have seen . That Case isn’t nothing to complain about either .

[edisdead]

When time allows I have a pleasure stroll through this thread. Thought I'd add a couple.

[djknife13]

Sweet knife.____Dave

[BWT]

Beautiful knife edisdead

[Waukonda]

When time allows I have a pleasure stroll through this thread. Thought I'd add a couple

Very nice little Brookes & Crookes!

[OLDE CUTLER]

This is a Henry Sears & Son MOP whittler that I picked up at the local flea market. 3 1/4" OAL closed with tapered back.

[Dinadan]

Very nice Henry Sears, Olde Cutler. I have a very similar but slightly smaller (3") knife.

There are a lot of beautiful knives posted in this thread. Here is my rather humble contribution: a W H Morley & Sons. The MOP does not have a lot of character, but still cool to find a knife this old with intact handles.

W H Morley

I recently posted this knife in a couple of other threads, but it does fit here as well.

W H Morley

[OLDE CUTLER]

Very nice Henry Sears, Olde Cutler. I have a very similar but slightly smaller (3") knife.

There are a lot of beautiful knives posted in this thread. Here is my rather humble contribution: a W H Morley & Sons. The MOP does not have a lot of character, but still cool to find a knife this old with intact handles.
Morley43.jpg
I recently posted this knife in a couple of other threads, but it does fit here as well.
Morley41.jpg

That is the challenge. The ones with cracks or chips broken out are telling you how many times they have been dropped in their lifetime.

[FRJ]

Good looking little W.H. Morley & Sons, Mel.
With a New York stamp. I think what few Morleys I have are German.
Love those clovers!

[Dinadan]

Thanks, Olde Cutler and Joe!

[New_Windsor_NY]

Recently, this lobster pattern or style of pocket knife arrived in a very large group or lot of pocket knives that I bought. This particular pocket knife was NOT the target of my purchase. However, it definitely turned out to be a keeper and it will make a welcome addition to my lobster pattern or style, pocket knife collection. It is an UNBRANDED, two blades, 1/2" X 2 1/4" closed (not including the bail), beautiful Mother Of Pearl handles, lobster pattern or style of pocket knife. I could NOT find ANY marking(s) of any kind, anywhere on this pocket knife. But if I had to guess a country of origin, I would guess Germany or Japan. Overall, this pocket knife is in VERY GOOD condition. It did NOT need any cleaning at all. I just wiped it off. I took some pictures (I couldn't quite capture the colors) and here it is.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

[Lama]

Here's a cute little W. H. Morley I thought I'd document here before sending it off to that big auction site. While the pearl is kind of yellow at the ends, it's prettier in real life than in the photos. The tight fit of the blades is pretty impressive.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Nice to see this thread get revived, it’s been dormant for quite a while.

I suspect I have some knives I could add; a few Robesons and, apparently, I only posted one Terrier to it, as I just ran through the entire thing.

Dimitri, you never updated us on that box of knives you grabbed off Ebay. Any gems?

[RobesonsRme.com]

Here are a couple of Terrier Cutlery Company pearl handled knives I have.
There are some Terriers posted to this thread, so I'll try not to be repetitive.
They are posted in the Terrier Forum, as well.

[RobesonsRme.com]

This knife does not belong to me, neither has it ever belonged to me.

Pretty sure it belongs to an AAPK member, but all I have are the photos and zero recollection of its owner. They are not regularly active here.

Beautiful knife.

I have never seen one like it. I have, however, seen another Robeson pearl with those "gemstone" inserts over the pins.

No idea if that was done at the factory or by an after-market jeweler.

Any ideas?

Covered backsprings. Rare in a Robeson. I think I have seen three Robeson pearl handled knives like that. I have one, Roland had one and this one.

I think this one has been posted on AAPK by its owner, but not to this interesting thread. I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes here.

Maybe someone more skilled than I can do a reverse photo search and come up with a name to whom it can be properly attributed.

I think the "MADE IN U.S.A." puts it after 1921 or so. Interestingly, those tang stamps are dated 1911 to 1921 by Tom Kalcevic in Knives Can Talk!.

So, I don't really know how to date the knife, but I suspect it has more of a window than just 1921.

[RobesonsRme.com]

More Photos:

[RobesonsRme.com]

Here's a sweet little guy I picked up off Ebay a while back.

It's a Robeson.

Never seen the like before.

It's an early knife and given the six digit pattern number, not an import.

I still have this one, as I do most all my pearl handled knives.

[Oledadsknives]

Wow, a lot of very impressive mops here!
Handle with care for sure!
I got a couple I’ll add to this show.
An Ixl lobster type pattern. And a Joseph rodgers no. 6 Norfolk st. Cutlers to his majesty.
Jimbo

[galvanic1882]

Great knives guys, that Robeson with the jewels is fantastic!! I have that same Rodgers in stag! That’s a beauty

[Oledadsknives]

That Robeson is sweet for sure. Never seen one like it.
Thanks for looking 1882!
Jimbo

[New_Windsor_NY]

Recently, this pocket knife arrived in a very large group or lot of pocket knives that I purchased. This particular pocket knife was NOT the reason for my purchase. But, it definitely turned out to be a keeper and it will make a welcome addition to my general, pocket knife collection. It is an UNBRANDED, two blades, 2 1/4" closed, beautiful Mother Of Pearl handles, pocket knife. I could NOT find ANY marking(s) of any kind, anywhere on this pocket knife. But if I had to guess a country of origin, I would guess Germany or Japan. The main blade has a good half stop and a decent opening and closing snap. The secondary blade has a good half stop and a wicked opening and closing snap. Overall, this pocket knife is in VERY GOOD condition. Contrary to the way they look in the pictures, there is NO gap between the scales and the bolsters. It did NOT need any cleaning at all. I just wiped it off. I took pictures (I couldn't quite capture the colors) and here it is.
Caption(s), if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

[Dinadan]

Very nice knives posted here over the last week.

Jimbo, that IXL and Rodgers have really fine MOP!

[Oledadsknives]

Thanks Mel for looking!
Jimbo