A Grail Wish Satisfied

[RobesonsRme.com]

I started collecting Robeson knives in earnest in 1988. I very quickly acquired my first copy of the Dewey and Lavonna Ferguson knife collectors book that included The Robeson Cutlery Company. I've worn out two and working on number three.

Ever since getting that book, I have wanted a Robeson Father and Son Pocket Knife Set, which was a boxed pair of strawberry bone handled knives, a 622026 two blade jack for dad and a 622319 two blade senator for the son.

I have never seen one of the sets in all these years.

I did buy mint examples of the two knives and have kept them all this time, hoping that someday, I would come across an empty box for the set.

Never happened.

I had actually stopped buying Robeson knives and have been selling them instead.

But, this past week, A Robeson Father and Son Pocket Knife Set showed up on Ebay.

My almost thirty year desire and quest for that set overwhelmed my previous resolve and I bought it.

These photos should expand with a left click or two.

Roughly, this would date 1948 to 1959.

Charlie

[Mumbleypeg]

Great find Charlie! Looks like in great condition too. And congratulations in filling a long-time wish.

Ken

[Brumbydownunder]

That set is in breath-taking condition Charlie ... A Quest Achieved & Satisfied Congratulations!
And I'll bet you didn't pay just $15 as written on the side of the box.

[XX Case XX]

Congratulations Charlie!! 30 years!!! Wow!! That must feel really good. Very happy for you. Always nice to hear that someone finally got what they've been waiting for all these years...

____________
Mike

[philco]

Congratulations Charlie. Feels good doesn't it ?

[RobesonsRme.com]

Thanks. And yes, Mike and Phil, it does feel good.

The knives are nice, but they are not mint. There is some fine tarnish on the clip of the jack.

I'm in a quandary. The two knives I've had all these years are better than those in the box and their bone is more closely matched.

Should I swap them out?

Charlie

[FRJ]

Congratulations on that nice set of knives, Charlie.

[Dinadan]

Charlie - if I read your post correctly you have been looking for one of those sets for almost thirty years. Congrats on fulfilling your quest! Now that you have found a set after decades of looking, I figure another set will show up within the next week: that is kind of how it works for me.

Those knives and the box are in amazing condition for something sixty years old. They must have been stored in a dry climate not to even have any spots on them. Beauties!

[btrwtr]

Awesome find. Congratulations Charlie!

[kootenay joe]

Should you swap your better condition knives for the ones in the box ?
Do you know if the 2 knives in the box are original to that box ? If they are not serialized you likely cannot be certain.
If your 2 better condition knives are identical (except for condition) to the 2 in the box then you might as well swap them unless there is a serial # or provenance that proves the 2 in box are original.
kj

[RobesonsRme.com]

The two knives in the box are the correct patterns, 622026 and 622319. The set had a number drawn from those two, 026319.

Whether the two knives I bought were put in that box at the factory in Perry between 1948 and 1959, I have no idea, nor will I ever know.

The knives are not serialized.

These are, however, likely original to the box.

If I put the two knives I've had for twenty or more years in the box, they will, of course, be correct for the set, but I'll know they were not put there and shipped as a "set" from the factory.

Hence, my quandary.

Charlie

[kootenay joe]

As this is a quandary for you, i suggest you do not swap knives as doing so will upset your equanimity. Instead make it a 4 knife display with the 2 acquired separately there to show what a minty one looks like.
kj

[wlf]

Congratulations Charlie.

After reading all your posts, I don't think I should interject in your situation.

[bestgear]

Charlie - since the knives in the box can't be confirmed as original to that box, I'd swap them out with the better examples and create a fine example of what would have come from the factory. In fact, the set you purchased may have been put together in just that manner since the 2 knives aren't as "matched" as your knives.

Just my $0.02.

[stagman]

I personally would go with the 2 knives you have had.....
a much better looking set...they look like a boxed set of matching knives,,
the 2 in the box do not,, they could have been put there and sold as a set,
as they did not ship from the factory directly to you...
very happy for you to basically achieve a life long knife collecting goal

Stag