Holley fake or real???

[BWT]

I picked up this Holley here locally several months ago. I read on another thread that Holley was counterfeited quite a bit. This one is in excellent condition with snap and no blade wobble. The tang says Holley Lakeview Ct.and was hard to see in the photos. It also has unusual looking springs. Any help with it would be greatly appreciated.

[knife7knut]

Are you sure it says,"Lakeview" and not "Lakeville"?

[BWT]

Are you sure it says,"Lakeview" and not "Lakeville"?

Sorry, it does say Lakeville, I guess the auto spell got me. It says Lakeville, in two words with the Lake being over the Ville on the bottom line, thanks for catching that.

[btrwtr]

I don't have much experience with Holley brand knives because good original examples are few and far between. I'm sure there are others here that have better and more informed experience.

I have seen this type of back spring on small pearl handled knives. I can't say about the knife one way or the other with any conviction but don't see anything that alarms me. Many of the Holley fakes I've seen were obvious. Many of the Holley knives I've seen that appeared okay were were small pen knives like this. With spun pins this would be a later knife for Holley.

[kootenay joe]

Many years ago, 1960's ? there was a guy who bought up hundreds of old well used/abused Holley knives and used them as parts to make completed "Holley" knives. These are fakes but have 100% Holley parts. There are other sources of Holley fakes as well and these usually look closer to 'near-mint'.
The OP knife with worn markings i think is all original. The fakes tend to have clear easy to read markings.

Wayne, can you explain a bit of what you are seeing here: "I have seen this type of back spring"

kj

[BWT]

Thanks KJ, Wayne. It is a really good looking knife in person. The blades look unused, and handles as well, but the tang stamp is worn quite a bit? Thanks again for your help.

[kootenay joe]

I can see that Master tang area looks more worn than does the blade, but the blade looks used to me, with tiny chips out of edge near the tip.
Maybe Wayne will comment. He is a more experienced collector than i.
kj

[thefarside]

Are both blades marked? I have never owned a good Holley without all the blades marked. The tang stamp you show looks good to me.
It could just be reflection, but the knife appears to be cleaned, The difference between the blade and the tang as Roland mentioned, and the grind lines on the small blade don't look like work from the Holley factory.

[LongBlade]

For me it is hard to tell by the photos so do not really know - could be a cobbled knife if done with Holley parts as KJ noted above regarding some guy who went to town using old Holley parts knives - doesn't matter to me if cobbled or counterfeit (counterfeit to me is a freshly made fake and cobbled is not an original knife but uses parts to make a knife) - sadly they both are fakes I guess in the end .. Even if the stamps are real ( and I agree with Jim both blades should be stamped) this one being a tip-bolstered or shadow pattern is hard to determine if the pivot pins were changed (though some cobblers know how to make replaced pivot pins look old even with full bolsters )... Is the liner completely clean and match the age of the blades? That may be hard if the blades were cleaned as well... for me I just don't buy aggressively cleaned and especially buffed knives... but we are all different in what is acceptable... Nonetheless Holley is a hard brand to find given my suspicions and have less of them compared to other CT knives in my collection but the ones I have I know are all original... It is a gut feeling after seeing many to know you have the real thing...

[BWT]

Only one blade is marked. I'm not experienced enough to tell if it is a fake or not. I was really excited when I found it just because of the Holley name. I looked at the liners and handles, which all looks good to me, and maybe I was the sucker PT Barnum was talking about!!! LOL I never cleaned it either, but it appears someone did. Thanks for all your help, I still like the knife alot,looks good in my small collection.

[kootenay joe]

Many of the rebuilt Holley knives were auctioned on ebay over a period of months by the same seller. The collection he was auctioning had come from "the cobbler". There might have been a few good ones in there.
A friend in Missouri has studied the history of Holley knives and other family members (includes Paul Revere). He was given free access to the Holley Museum and the old Holley catalogs, etc. It was he who explained the batch of re-builds to me.
kj

[BWT]

Thanks KJ, that is what I like about the older knives, the history of them. I bought this one here locally, don't know how long he owned it. You were fortunate to get the information first hand from someone that had access to the museum.

[LongBlade]

Bill - Enjoy the knife - that is the important part ... You mention your collection is small - it will grow, and by leaps and bounds hanging around AAPK ... You also mention you were not experienced enough to know - that will come too - when I started and as advised by many - handle as many knives as possible (you'll learn to "read the knife"), ask questions and you will evolve - its tough at first for everybody and everybody makes those purchases at the beginning that may not be what you thought - I did at the beginning and still have a few in my pile for posterity ) !