All About Pocket Knives

Do you think the salesman wrote on the blades or did they come from the factory with the writing on it?
Thanks Keith

I would think that the person who prepared the kit would have done the writing.

I always thought the factory did it.

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Mike

Could have been both salesman or the prep person. Here is a bottle of Cattaraugus ink for marking!

As I look at the samples I have, they are all different. I used to think they came from the factory as sample knives but the more I see the more I think each individual put there own marks on it.

That's a really cool piece Mike.

Ad from 1935 Shapleigh catalog

I have read somewhere, I forget where, that each individual sales rep developed their on code.

I think sometimes the markings included a pattern or catalog number, but also the price per 1/2 dozen or dozeb, depending on the size.

As I've stated before, I'm leery of inked knives, because we have absolutely no way of knowing when the ink was applied.

I do not pay up for inked knives.

It is, without doubt, the easiest way to fraudulently enhance the value of a knife.

Charlie

I totally agree with you Charlie about the easiest way to jack up the price on a knife by putting the inked numbers on it. That's why you need to know who and what you are buying. Know knives from salesman are to me still worth more. I have a few Catt's that came right out of the salesman's roll in northeast PA. I sat with the daughter of the salesman and she had all the documentation about her dad and letters to prove it. She did not know what she had and after visiting with her and letting her know she would only sell 2 to me. She still has the rest.

Another time I bought a pearl Keen Kutter jack that danno now owns. I bought the knife because it was etched from a person that was defiantly not a knife dealer. I was sitting with a friend when the package came and when I opened it the blade had ink on the back. I did not know that before I bought it and the seller's pictures were bad so you could not teel.

So they are out there but like Charlie said you need to be mindful that they might be faked.

This one is on eBay now. I the knife is definately nice. This knife is what got me to wondering about this subject. To me, and my uneducated opinion, I wouldn't pay up for this particular salesman writing. It just looks funny to me.

I saw that knife also and thought you might be looking at it. Great looking knife but I see what you mean about the ink! I would email the seller and ask questions first before writing it off but that's just me.

I appreciate the advice Mike

Is there any way of finding old payroll records from these knife companies to match initials or names?
Perhaps other known examples of "sales man" knives, and a data base is needed...

That would be great if you could find them but I have never seen any in all my years of searching.

I have 3 Keen Kutters with salesman ink. I am pretty sure all three are authentic. The first is the pearl KK jack, which Mike spoke of above. The second one, a pearl whittler, was recently bought from an AAPK store. I don't believe that I paid extra (consciously anyway) for the ink on either of these knives? There are enough similarities in the style and lettering between these two that I believe they may have been marked by the same person? I believe they are both pre 1923 Walden manufactured knives. The third is a KK toothpick, also purchased from Mike, that has very faint ink. I don't recall Mike mentioning this when selling the knife. It is very faint and I had to play with the light to get it to show in the pic. All three, and most others I have seen posted, are fairly sharp, legible and stylishly lettered. They also appear to have been inked when the knives were new. The lettering on the posted Remington is not very legible? Not really sure if this means anything or not? I am very inexperienced in this area.
Dan

Your knives Dan are what I have topically seen. I had started a thread in the Remington forum, where I posted mine. Very similar to yours. Yours look great.

Thanks espn. Just took a look at yours over on the Remington forum, very nice knives and authentic appearing salesman ink!
Dan

I have quite a few vintage German knives with inked on numbers. All are like those shown by Dan, the writing taking up only a part of the blade at the tang end. I am suspicious of a knife showing inked on writing that takes up the length of the blade.
kj

Those are real interesting knives Danno.
I do not wish to be a bubble buster but (say that three times fast) the lettering was done by different people.
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The first author uses a re-trace on his/her letters meaning that person went back into the line already drawn where the last author uses a swirl flair style to his/her lettering.
They are similar to the naked eye but once you enlarge the image the difference becomes apparent.
I studied Graphology for three years in college.

If you want a laugh... The first author was most likely male, wore suspenders, and a belt, likely to have carried a coin purse, and was constantly scanning his surroundings for potential problems.

Your second author was female or an effeminate male that wore bright colors, would tend to skip rather than walk, was a good tipper at diners, and would talk to anyone that listened.

Just thank goodness that we all do not have to write rather than type.

I have at least two inked Robeson knives, one a toenail and the other a mint Terrier that came out of a long closed, but not liquidated, hardware business in Nebraska. I didn't know either were inked until they arrived, so I didn't pay up for the ink.

As to a list of salesman, I do happen to have a list of all national sales reps from the very early 1900's for the Robeson Cutlery Co.

Charlie Noyes

That's pretty cool to have that list Charlie. Wish I could get me hands on something like that on Remington