Who was "Jimmie Goulding"??????

[knife7knut]

This morning I stopped at one of my favorite antique shops on the way to a job and found a couple knives I liked;one of which I bought. The other is on temporary hold due to a cash flow problem.
When I saw this knife in the vendor's case I thought at first it might be a Thomas Turner as I have one almost identical to it by them.Imagine my surprise when I opened it and saw the Richards name with the lamp post and the words,"Lamp Post" underneath. Virtually all the Richards knives I have seen were of the inexpensive shell handled type and this one was definitiely not in that genre.
The master blade showed some scratching and you could just make out the word,"Stainless" stamped into it.It is also stamped into both handles and on the tang which makes me think this may have been made when stainless was first being tried out in knives.
I glanced at the price tag and saw it was only $5 and I wondered why until I flipped it over and saw someone had used an engraving tool to put their name into the handle. And so begs the question in the title: Who was "Jimmie Goulding"? At least that is what I think it says. I will likely never know but it is questions like this that keep me engaged in the practice of acquiring knives for my "accumulation". Here are some pictures of the knife and the signature.

[OLDE CUTLER]

This morning I stopped at one of my favorite antique shops on the way to a job and found a couple knives I liked;one of which I bought. The other is on temporary hold due to a cash flow problem.
When I saw this knife in the vendor's case I thought at first it might be a Thomas Turner as I have one almost identical to it by them.Imagine my surprise when I opened it and saw the Richards name with the lamp post and the words,"Lamp Post" underneath. Virtually all the Richards knives I have seen were of the inexpensive shell handled type and this one was definitiely not in that genre.
The master blade showed some scratching and you could just make out the word,"Stainless" stamped into it.It is also stamped into both handles and on the tang which makes me think this may have been made when stainless was first being tried out in knives.
I glanced at the price tag and saw it was only $5 and I wondered why until I flipped it over and saw someone had used an engraving tool to put their name into the handle. And so begs the question in the title: Who was "Jimmie Goulding"? At least that is what I think it says. I will likely never know but it is questions like this that keep me engaged in the practice of acquiring knives for my "accumulation". Here are some pictures of the knife and the signature.

Oh, Oh, Oh, I think I met him once. He was a tall thin, heavy set short guy with lightish / dark hair. lol No seriously, once I bought a Utica metal handle knife at a flea market. It was a seed corn company give away with a blank panel provided on the front to engrave things on. This one had a name on it, and when I got to thinking about it, I knew who the guy was. His sister had worked with my wife years ago. I bought it for a couple of bucks and when my wife saw his sister next, she mentioned the knife to her. Turns out he was a farmer who never had kids, but his nephew was always sore that he hadn't gotten any mementos from the estate as the whole shebang went to auction. His nephew was thrilled to get the knife with his uncles name engraved on it. I have seen many knives with names engraved on them, but only this once has it been some one I have known. I suppose you are right, we will never know who Jimmy Goulding was.

[doglegg]

Great story OC.

[djknife13]

I don't bother to buy knives with a name etched or scratched into them, but celluloid picture handle knives with names and usually some other identifying things pictured are another story. On two knives, not picture handle ones, that I have I got the whole story of the knife and owners history from family and some detective work, one including documented history back to the Spanish American war. That knife was made in France for the Philippian market and was purchased by the first owner during the war. He was wounded in Spain and bought the knife, a slot knife with the three parts, to eat with while in the hospital. It was stored for many years until after his death with all his Minnesota 13th volunteer metals and uniform. Two of the knives, picture handled ones, I researched the knives on the computer and found family and ties to my own family and friends and had a blast doing it. On one I drove way up to a small community in far Northern Minnesota and located the family homestead and a grandson who went to school with an old friend and fellow knife collector that I used to travel to my knife club meetings with. That knife dated back to 1912 and first belonged to a Finnish sharpshooter who fled Finland after the Russians invaded Finland made him teach marksmanship to Russian soldiers. On the other picture handle knife I mentioned, I located a grandson living in Southern Minnesota who had coffee every day with my uncle. He gave me the name of the first owners son who was 100 years old, living in Chicago, and had a clear memory of when his Dad left the town also named on the knife. All these people have since have since passed away, and I have the stories of the knife's history, where it traveled and how it got to where I found it. It's a whole other fascinating aspect to collecting knives some people could care less about, but I love it.____Dave

[knife7knut]

GREAT STORIES GUYS!!!!!! This to me is what knife accumulating has become to me.

[Steve Warden]

Oh, Oh, Oh, I think I met him once. He was a tall thin, heavy set short guy with lightish / dark hair. lol .