All About Pocket Knives

Thanks Mike. It is, I think, a quite rare knife.
Charlie Noyes

It's just dumbfounding to me to see all these knives from 100 years ago in such good shape. Not only are the knives in fine general condition, even the blade etches have survived. Charlie, have you seen a lot of worn Terriers over the years or are they mostly in good shape? I am wondering if the brand was a collector brand and if they were generally bought to be put away. Maybe the GECs of their day? I know some people use their GECs but I bet most of them get put away.

I think that the great majority of Terriers are in used to relic condition. The really nice ones come along once in a blue moon. I've been collecting Robesons since 1988 and I've only got twenty or so Terriers.

They only made them from 1910 to 1916.

You'd be surprised how many dealers at knife shows and sellers on Ebay have no idea how old they are or that they were a Robeson product.

Some of the nicest Terriers I have came off of Ebay in the earlier days, not so often anymore. Some of them were grouped in with three or six or more other knives. I can pick Robeson bone out of a group photo most of the time.

The two best I have, the double-ended jacks, came off Ebay and had been found in an old hardware store stockroom.

This old 3 7/8" inch stockman is the poorest conditioned Terrier I've ever bought. I tend to wait for the good ones.

Charlie Noyes

that ol stockman looks good to me charlie!
I have one in much worse cond,but I still like it.
It's a shame cause it still snaps good.

I feel much better about my knife now.

Seriously, they are a nice pattern. I like the flat surfaces and crisp edges on the bolsters and the bone.

I EDC's mine for a while when I first got it........actually, I do that with a lot of knives. Sortof a "bonding" process.

Charlie Noyes

Charlie,yeah I like the flat blosters in particular,
very well made knife too,very solid.
too bad this one was abused
But I just couldn't walk away from it...for $1.00...

I may re shape the blade and make something from the short one
then carry it.

This nice Terrier whittler showed up on Ebay this week.

Seller stated it was just over 3" in length.

The master clip blade is etched, "TERRIER BRAND".

The handles are nicely jigged. There are at least two small cracks at the pins on the front side.

There are a few spiders on the blades.

Remember, these Terrier knives were made and marketed by The Robeson Cutlery Company between 1910 and 1916. They are all between 96 and 102 years of age +/-.

I put what I thought was a sure-thing bid on this little knife.......and lost it.

This knife sold for $280.50.

Oh well.

The photos will expand a bit with a left click.

Charlie Noyes

That is a beautiful knife.

While I was losing the 3" brown bone whittler above, I was winning this little 2 7/8" pearl handled Terrier whittler, made 1910 - 1916 by The Robeson Cutlery Company.

Pattern number 267 / 732. That would be 732267 if the knife was stamped Robeson, instead of Terrier.

All three blades are stamped the same. There is a terrier's head on the back of the master.

The brass liners are nicely coined.

There are no chips, cracks or flakes in the pearl, although there is a small natural inclusion in the front handle next to the rocker pin.

There are a few spiders here and there, but the knife retains most of its original lustre.

Sweet, I think.

Still wish I'd gotten that other one, though.

Pics will expand w a left click.

Charlie Noyes

Charlie,

Both of those knives are beautiful.... Although I would choose the 1st one over the second mainly due to the quality or IMO excellent jigging, however both are winners, Glad you got one of them. I've never seen one before BH

Charlie, great knives and I am sorry you missed the etched one! Remember there will be more knives coming along, Mike

Charlie, I'm glad you brought this thread back up, this is all new knowledge for me - thanks - and enjoy your "new" Terrier!

I wanted to revive this thread due to the latest find I was lucky to obtain. This is a steel liner, steel bolster Terrier Cutlery. Charlie was kind enough to explain the tang stamp number system to me. I was hoping it was a little more valuable than it appears to be, but hey it was neat to find an old knife in a tool box located in a barn in South Carolina. So as always the hunt was more than half the fun. Click to enlarge. The other is a pen knife I purchased last fall in NY state at an antique mall. Kind pretty I thought. But I like finding them, selling moving on to the next treasure hunt

Thanks Charlie, hopefully the next will be keepers.

Both of those are sweeeet. But, you just gotta love that hefty handful of dogleg jack.
Charlie

I have owned a number of good Robeson knives and razors but very few Terrier's. They are hard to come by and in my experience the best of quality.

Here are some certificates and stamps from both Robeson and Terrier for factory razor honing. Total value of $1 for each certificate to be redeemed $.25 at a time. Hard to imagine many of these actually got used but there is one of the Terrier stamps missing. I wonder how long you would have to go without a shave before you got your razor back? Mamma might not like you if you get too stubbly.

Has anyone seen these before?

Some awesome posts here! Thanks for sharing!

Interesting post btr.I would say those are rare.

David,nice finds.That dogleg is a neat pattern.

I've seen the warranties and honing coupons from Robeson, but I don't think I've ever seen one from Terrier.

If you look at boxed Robeson razors on Ebay regularly, like once a week, you will eventually see a razor, box and certificates all still together.

Charlie Noyes

I'm going to post this here just to keep the thread alive and to keep from creating a new one about a single knife.

This Terrier Cutlery Co. ebony handled jumbo sleeveboard whittler sold on Ebay this morning.

It's a very nice and rare knife. There is a handle crack on the back side, but not terribly distractive.

Remember, Robeson produced the Terrier line only from 1910 until 1916, so this knife for certain sure will be one hundred years old some time next year, if it hasn't already surpassed that age.

I suppose it could be a hundred and five already.

I did try to buy the knife, but dropped out at $375.00.

It sold to someone with over twelve thousand Ebay transactions for $467 and change.

These photos will expand x 2 with a couple of left clicks.

Charlie Noyes

WOW!!!
What a knife!!!

Charlie that's an amazing knife. I will most likely never own one if for no other reason that the cost, but I sure do like the way that one looks. Sorry it didn't work out for you to add it to your collection.

I love those jumbo sleeveboard whittlers Charlie,and that is a very nice one.Wish you had got it.

I would have loved to have gotten that one.

First Terrier jumbo whittler I've ever seen.

I just couldn't afford to go any higher.

Charlie

The same seller of the Terrier had an etched Blish, Mize & Sillman 4 1/8'' jack knife that also sold very well ($565).Both were very nice knives.

Feeling your pain Charlie - all too often I have found a missing pattern number in my LF&C collection on eBay and my high bid isn't quite enough. I find it sometimes takes days for me to get the thought out of my head but eventually we move on to another pursuit.

One trick that I use to get over a lost auction is to keep a picture of the knife as a "placeholder" in my collection with the idea that I'll find another one (or maybe the same one) at some point down the road. Other than that ..... I feel your pain.

Tom

BestGear wrote: "One trick that I use to get over a lost auction is to keep a picture of the knife as a "placeholder" in my collection with the idea that I'll find another one (or maybe the same one) at some point down the road."

And that's exactly what I do. I snip Ebay photos almost every day.

I posted a little while back re' a mint condition Robeson electrician's EO jack that I had just gotten off Ebay.

It turned out it was the same knife upon which I had been outbid on Ebay a couple of years earlier.

I bought it from the winner of that auction for less than my losing bid.

Maybe that Terrier will come around again some day.......

Not holding my breath or marching in place waiting for that to happen, however.

Charlie