Real Knife Lore: Augustus Vignos

[GreatScout]

I was one of three members (Bill Wolfe and LT Langston) who started this forum, and I always thought it could be more than it was. My bad, never thought enough about it until those two left the site. But bringing up a name from way, way back in knife history a while ago in an email to one of you worthy AAPK members gave me an idea. How about looking at some of the real innovators, or characters, or infamous scoundrels that have made knives and knife collecting what it is today? So I sit here with virtual pen in hand, a pile of cyber foolscap before me and a stack of knife references and begin to lay this down.

Augustus Vignos... Ring a bell, anyone? And his company, Novelty Cutlery Company of Canton, Ohio. A veteran of the civil war, holding the rank of Major, he was short of stature and huge of ideas. He lost an arm during the battle of Gettysberg, a fact he played upon hugely in his company advertising. After the war, he was postmaster of Canton, but then he moved into knives... With a huge idea about how to market the new fangled picture handled pocketknives.

Now these things were easy to make, once celluloid was developed in 1872 by John Wesley Hyatt. The stuff was amazing, and there was so much entreprenuers could do with it. Especially since it could be made crystal clear. In Canton, Ohio, the brothers Landis found that they could put any image on paper and under clear celluloid and use it as a pocket knife handle. Eureka, as we used to say back in the day. They licensed the process to a couple of local men, Dr. Stuart Carnes who owned Canton Cutlery Company, and our Major Vignos, who started up Novelty Cutlery company. By all accounts, the two firms got along honorably and well.

But Major Vignos did more than just stick any picture or writing on a scrap of paper in a knife cell sandwich and peddle it. He took the idea to a massive step forward in knife marketing. He sold nationally, then internationally, directly to the buyers. No middle men, no wholesalers. The process of making those kinda knives was a bit more complicated. But selling straight from the factory to the customer saved him oodles of money. But the paperwork was bogging him down, so he took the great idea to yet another step: Local sales agents.

The Major's advertising began to shift from peddling knives to presenting business oppurtunies to others. Young boys, young men, older guys needing a second job answered those ads and became knife salesmen. Armed with a catalog and when he made enough money to afford them, samples as well, the sales force hit the road, hit the local businesses, hit friends and relatives. Anyone could own a personalized knife of their very own design! There were thousands of those agents, using a standized order form, and knowing just exactly how to get the right photos or whatever was needed for the customer's order. The agents took their commission off the top and so in effect, cost Novelty Cutlery Company nothing.

Major Vignos was a success, and expanded his business by making knives for other companies, like advertising specialty houses. Also, 'Novelty' became a branch of Vignos' Canton Knife Company in 1989. The Landis patent protected him and Dr. Carnes until it ran out in about 1912, but by that time, they had a huge headstart. But other knife companies did start turning out picture knives as soon as they could. Aerial Cutlery Company, Golden Rule, Lackawanna and Wabash Cutlery Company. Many thousands were made. The great idea really did have legs.

August Vignos died in 1925, control of his company passing to son Alfred. But the 'new idea' of picture knives was not new any longer, and we all know how fickle the public-- especially we knife buying public, can be. Add to that the increased competition of the several firms making the picture knives. But Novelty Cutlery managed to hold on until 1948 before it finally ceased doing business.

A few Novelty knives have passed through my hands. Like all picture knife brands, those featuring nude women or bathing beauties are the most valuable. So many of the picture knives from back in the day have completely faded away, literally. The Novelty Knife Company name still seems to be in use, I have seen such knives produced in Ireland and China. It is doubtful that the name was legally bought and paid for, perhaps any claim on it just expired, or there is no heir that cares.

BR Levine rates this brand as highly collectible. So does Roy Ritchie and Ron Stewart. I don't know what they fetch on ebay.

Anyway, the man was cool, and I have enjoyed learning more and writing about him. I hope you have as well. Here are some links you may find interesting.


Respected businessman and citizen:
http://www.justus.ca/versailles/Ohio/PD ... iption.pdf

War, see page 124:
http://www.heritagepursuit.com/Stark/St ... ioP650.htm

War, two thirds of the way down:
http://www.heritagepursuit.com/Stark/St ... XIP249.htm

"The 107th regiment, headed by Colonel Seraphim Meyers, included our German-American boys in numbers sufficient to cause the regiment to be dubbed 'The 107th Dutch.' It went to the front, its officers including the gallant Major Vignos."

Local color:
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/us ... -0008.html

"Another Augustus - Augustus Vignos- built the brick building on the northeast corner of the Square. Now used as a tavern, it still carries the big V at the top of the west wall."

Knife related:
http://www.justus.ca/versailles/Ohio/PD ... d-Misc.pdf

bibliography: BRLevine 4th ed. Standard Knife collectors guide, Richie and Stewart, Big Book of Pocket knives Stewart & Ritchie (photos 3 and 4)

[Owd Wullie]

WOW!

Great story!! Thanks for taking the time to make it available. I enjoyed it and the information was all new to me.

SALUD!!
W

[Sauconian]

Good reading, and great history. Thanks, GreatScout !

This explained what was a bit of a mystery to me. A C.C.Co. picture knife was on ebay a while back, with identified photos of a family from nearby Easton, Pa. I wondered why that would be, but thought the knife would be an interesting subject for some genealogical research. Unfortunately it sold for much more than I expected, and I didn't get it. I think a Canton knife with photos like that ( if identified ) would be much more interesting than the girly handles.

A few months ago I bought a Schrade Cut.Co. 3-3/8" nickel handle double switch. The name E.K.Sawtelle was engraved on the handle. A few minutes on ancestry yesterday, and I found a 1930 census listing for Eugene K. Sawtelle. he was 55 years old, lived in Augusta, Kennebec, Maine, his wife's name was Rosatta, and he was a veteran and auto mechanic.
Cool stuff !

Fran

[glenn]

Thanks I like those older knives and the history that go with them

[orvet]

Great stuff Phil.
Plaese give us more!

Dale

[GreatScout]

Thank you.
Phil

[Mossdancer]

Phil:
Thanks for the lesson in History, Human Nature and Knives. I do hope you are mistaken regarding LT. His loss here would be incomparable.
moss

[Miller Bro's]

Phil,

Very nice post

Here is an old Novelty Cutlery Co. whittler pattern knife.

This one has a military theme, it is from the World War I era. It is marked Battery A N.H. N. G.


M.B.

[GreatScout]

Thank you, MB for your contribution! That is exactly the kinda knife I was hoping somone would post a pic of.

[Owd Wullie]

HEy MB,

That old knife is from home. Battery A, New Hampshire National Guard, would be my guess for the initials. Cool little knife.

[Miller Bro's]

Willie,

Your guess would be 100% correct!


M.B.

[RobesonsRme.com]

I've had what was a very nice old Novelty Cutlery Co. two blade regular jack, almost four inches in length with very full blades. The master clip has a beautiful shape.

The knife had celluloid handles with what appeared to have been Spanish-American War connected photos. There were portraiture photos of Admiral Dewey and General Pershing, I believe, and photos of battleships.

The was a code number under one handle, so this might have been a sample knife.

The handles started to gas out. The photos of the two military gentlemen completely faded. The knife began to rust. I tried to stay ahead of it, but finally gave up.

I've removed the celluloid handles and they've been tossed.

I have two very nice matching pieces of brown jigged bone that have never been on a knife. They're still, "in the raw" so to speak.

I'm either going to try installing them, or I'm going to turn it over to someone that actually knows what they are doing. I'll at least get a good one hundred year old EDC out of it.

I did put stag handles on a modern Boker Barlow a few years ago. That turned out pretty well. The guy that bought it was impressed.


I also have a big cigar by Golden Rule that has General Pershing standing in uniform under one handle and a very nice American Eagle with out spread wings under the other.

The blades are full, but have some pitting.

The handles do not appear to be gassing out at present, but General Pershing is a little dark, I think. The Eagle side is very nice.

I bought these two knives off Ebay years ago because their historical significance and age just really appealed to me.

Charlie Noyes

[GreatScout]

Thank you for contributing to the thread, Charlie. A shame your knife's pictures 'faded away' as I put it. But nice that you still have it.

How amazed would the Major be, that we still celebrate his wonderful knives, how we value them even when the photos are long, long gone?

[Paul M]

Very interesting thread. I do not have a Novelty "Picture" Knife but I do have one of the razors Novelty made. The tang stamp says patent Nov 79
I wonder if it is for the handle material which may be cell. or for another feature. No patent numbers just Nov 79

[GreatScout]

Very nice addition to the thread! I didn't know Novelty did straight razors. I don't know what the patent number would pertain to, perhaps you are right about the handle material.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Seems I've seen photos of Novelty catalog pages that included picture handle razors. Of course, it might have been Golden Rule or Canton catalogs instead.

Is it possible this razor's picture handles gassed out and the blade was put in the old black composition handle?

The pin cetainly looks right on my computer screen.

Charlie Noyes

[GreatScout]

Please forgive my sloppy, or incomplete, research. Of course Novelty did razors, and to clear up the question of the one with black handles, I offer this illustration. Picture handles were indeed made as well.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Remember my old Novelty Cutlery Co. jack?
I referred to this knife earlier in this thread.
It originally had photos of General Pershing,
Admiral Dewey and old U. S. Navy battleships.
I think it is from the time of the
Spanish-American War, 1898
(you youngsters might not have studied that in school).

The handles starting gassing out and the
tops of the blades and the bolsters
began to rust. I've removed the celluloid
scales, and cleaned the knife up a bit.
You can still see a line of pitting along
the top of the pen blade.

Beside the knife are two old bone scales
that I'm thinking of having someone put
on the knife, however, these might be
too narrow. If so, I have a larger pair
that could be cut down to work.

Below that is a big Golden Rule Cutlery Co.
equal-end from the same time period.
General Pershing on the mark side and
a very nice spread winged American eagle
on the other.

Too bad celluloid has a tendency to eventually
deteriorate like that. These are great old
knives that reflect and record our American
history. Now, one of the two has lost its
significance.

Charlie Noyes

[Miller Bro's]

Charlie,

Nice old Novelty knife. What a shame the handles deteriorated.
If it were my knife I would find an old Novelty straight razor and put the original celluloid picture handles back on the frame. However, it`s you knife and you can do what you like with it I do like your choice of bone handles though

Here now is an old Novelty straight razor, the blade has been changed and is marked Torrey.




M.B.

[RobesonsRme.com]

MB;
Replacing the handles with other celluloid picture scales is a good idea.
However, the knife is about 1/32" shy of four inches. I'm not sure a pair of razor handles would work, given their curvature and width.........although I'm willing to try that pair off that old Torrey!
Charlie Noyes

[Sauconian]

Gotta say it. I like that razor better than General Pershing,

Fran

[Miller Bro's]

Charlie,

The razor handles are 5 1/2" long and about 9/16" wide, but they did make wider handles on the barber models.

Fran,

I like the razor pictures better than Gen. Pershing too!
If I was crazy enough to shave with one of these things I would probably cut my throat looking at the pictures of the lovely ladies in the mirror!

[RobesonsRme.com]

Does anyone know if there was a special technique used in putting the pictures under the celluloid? Was it a simple sandwiching or was it more involved?

Could it be duplicated today using a clear, but more stable material, and vintage photos downloaded from the internet? (I suspect those lovely lady type photos are out there somewhere, although that's not what I'd put on the knife if I were keeping it.

Charlie Noyes

[orvet]

It might work if you built up several layers of decoupage over the pic.
Or you might use casting resin. You would have to build up sides to the handle to pour on the resin & hold it while it cures.

Just a thought,
Dale

[philco]

Gotta say it. I like that razor better than General Pershing,

Fran

Come on Fran, show some respect.




That just might be "someones" great grandma you're eyeing there!