EXCELSIOR
Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:00 pm
the word Excelsior has numerous meanings and has been used for many purposes. It is the state motto for NY. It recently on the Stan Lee (reality???) show Who wants to be a Super Hero, was the rally cry for the contestants. ( I was going to try to get on that show my character was to be SUPER SENIOR and my super power was mega ton strength flatulence. ). It is defined in the New college American heritage dictionary as slender curved wood shavings used for packing ( ie stuffing or similar purpose). Which originally was a trade name for the stuff. it also is from the Latin comparative of excelsus from the past participle of excellere or to make it simple it means to Excel at something or ( for the layman ) do it really good. I have given this explanation as a prelude to the actual subject of this post. (ie the Excelsior Knife Company ).
This company was only in business from 1880 until 1884. This fact makes any of these knives still around quite rare and highly prized by collectors for this reason like many of the Old Northeastern company tanged knives it is often a knife to be wary of due to counterfeiting or replication. In fact as is often the case ( like in the UNION KNIFE CO I wrote about in another thread ). Due to the age and rarity of these often many do not even know how to tell if the piece is correct. There are several reference by Goins and Levine regarding this brand as well as reference in New England Cutlery by Pankiewicz.
It seems this company was located a suburb of Torrington CT. They were supposidly next door to a flute factory who used ivory on there flutes and they incorporated the ivory scraps into the making of the handles for some of there knives. While they were a progressive company who made a quality product it seems the reason for there demise may well have been there overextending there progressiveness into other products steel squares and bits. This was a tough time for American knife makers the economy and imports drove many firms into insolvency during this time frame. Whatever the reason, they were bought out by NORTHFIELD KNIFE who moved the machinery to there own factory. The reason I am relating this history will soon become apparent, (Which I am sure will, be welcome to the reader ).
Recently I saw a Excelsior two bladed pocket knife on EBAY the seller had a reserve and it was not reached. Again this is a rare tang and many collectors often over look it. The seller had quite a bit of knife knowledge and seemed credible to me. I had been the top bidder even though the reserve was not met, he relisted and again it failed to make the reserve and again I was top bidder. He contacted me and offered a second chance buy it now, for my bid and I bought it.
Actually when I bought it I had some trepidation as to its total validity I believed the tang stamp to be valid it was curved and on both blades it is a small pen and usually copies would be for larger knives and a straight marking . I do not know if originally they used straight markings however the curved stamp is validated in Goins second edition page 90.
Also the condition of the stamping was correct for wear for a knife this age. My concern as to originality was due to the handle material it was celluloid. Now interestingly celluloid usually validates a knife as being old but in this case with a knife this old 1880 to 1884 the question was if it was to old to have been able to have had celluloid and was it therefore rehandled in the 1920s or 1930s when the use of this material was much more prevalent. Either way it appealed to me since I found it extremely interesting to have either an early celluloid knife or a knife rehandled 40 or fifty years after it was made which was still 90 years ago.
When I received the knife I began to research it. I found this old article from Knife world http://www.knifeworld.com/cefimabydeel.html which actually over the years I had read before ( it is about the best I have ever seen on this subject). It answered several questions first Cell while invented in the late 1850tys was available for knife handles since around 1870, so by 1880 it would have been just the thing for a new progressive company to use . Ok so they could have used it but, did they? I have never found a catalogue for Excelsior so how could it be proven. Well they were bought by Northfield ( American Pocketknife company ) and I do have a copy of that catalogue so I figured that if they had celluloid in there line chances are so did Excelsior. When I checked the the catalogue I found that in the smaller pockets they used Pearl, Ivory, stag, buffalo and something called SHELL. Interestingly Shell was a name much like Pyremite or Pyralin ( as also pointed out in the article PYRE means fire due to the flammability of this substance ) used to denote celluloid . ( Sometimes it was referred to a mother of toilet seat by those not thrilled by the then new material).
So now I know that there is a good chance the knife is original if it was rehandled it was done perfect. My only concern is that the knife is in such good condition but frankly if it was done 90 years ago or 130 it still is in amazing condition for either age. The shield is perfect as well, the original owner bought it a an NKCA show many years ago so for now I am giving the knife a clean bill either way it is a dandy and it gave me a lot of fun checking it out. LT PS Here is an excelsior on ebay 260161090354 this knife is supposed to be original ( I do not believe I will voice an opinion on it ). However the seller has got a great feedback so who knows. PPS the line in the front handle on the right side of my knife is part of the cell pattern. And yes this knife pattern was being made then.
This company was only in business from 1880 until 1884. This fact makes any of these knives still around quite rare and highly prized by collectors for this reason like many of the Old Northeastern company tanged knives it is often a knife to be wary of due to counterfeiting or replication. In fact as is often the case ( like in the UNION KNIFE CO I wrote about in another thread ). Due to the age and rarity of these often many do not even know how to tell if the piece is correct. There are several reference by Goins and Levine regarding this brand as well as reference in New England Cutlery by Pankiewicz.
It seems this company was located a suburb of Torrington CT. They were supposidly next door to a flute factory who used ivory on there flutes and they incorporated the ivory scraps into the making of the handles for some of there knives. While they were a progressive company who made a quality product it seems the reason for there demise may well have been there overextending there progressiveness into other products steel squares and bits. This was a tough time for American knife makers the economy and imports drove many firms into insolvency during this time frame. Whatever the reason, they were bought out by NORTHFIELD KNIFE who moved the machinery to there own factory. The reason I am relating this history will soon become apparent, (Which I am sure will, be welcome to the reader ).
Recently I saw a Excelsior two bladed pocket knife on EBAY the seller had a reserve and it was not reached. Again this is a rare tang and many collectors often over look it. The seller had quite a bit of knife knowledge and seemed credible to me. I had been the top bidder even though the reserve was not met, he relisted and again it failed to make the reserve and again I was top bidder. He contacted me and offered a second chance buy it now, for my bid and I bought it.
Actually when I bought it I had some trepidation as to its total validity I believed the tang stamp to be valid it was curved and on both blades it is a small pen and usually copies would be for larger knives and a straight marking . I do not know if originally they used straight markings however the curved stamp is validated in Goins second edition page 90.
Also the condition of the stamping was correct for wear for a knife this age. My concern as to originality was due to the handle material it was celluloid. Now interestingly celluloid usually validates a knife as being old but in this case with a knife this old 1880 to 1884 the question was if it was to old to have been able to have had celluloid and was it therefore rehandled in the 1920s or 1930s when the use of this material was much more prevalent. Either way it appealed to me since I found it extremely interesting to have either an early celluloid knife or a knife rehandled 40 or fifty years after it was made which was still 90 years ago.
When I received the knife I began to research it. I found this old article from Knife world http://www.knifeworld.com/cefimabydeel.html which actually over the years I had read before ( it is about the best I have ever seen on this subject). It answered several questions first Cell while invented in the late 1850tys was available for knife handles since around 1870, so by 1880 it would have been just the thing for a new progressive company to use . Ok so they could have used it but, did they? I have never found a catalogue for Excelsior so how could it be proven. Well they were bought by Northfield ( American Pocketknife company ) and I do have a copy of that catalogue so I figured that if they had celluloid in there line chances are so did Excelsior. When I checked the the catalogue I found that in the smaller pockets they used Pearl, Ivory, stag, buffalo and something called SHELL. Interestingly Shell was a name much like Pyremite or Pyralin ( as also pointed out in the article PYRE means fire due to the flammability of this substance ) used to denote celluloid . ( Sometimes it was referred to a mother of toilet seat by those not thrilled by the then new material).
So now I know that there is a good chance the knife is original if it was rehandled it was done perfect. My only concern is that the knife is in such good condition but frankly if it was done 90 years ago or 130 it still is in amazing condition for either age. The shield is perfect as well, the original owner bought it a an NKCA show many years ago so for now I am giving the knife a clean bill either way it is a dandy and it gave me a lot of fun checking it out. LT PS Here is an excelsior on ebay 260161090354 this knife is supposed to be original ( I do not believe I will voice an opinion on it ). However the seller has got a great feedback so who knows. PPS the line in the front handle on the right side of my knife is part of the cell pattern. And yes this knife pattern was being made then.
I'm still suffering sticker shock from the Simmons auction. Like throwing a handfull of shrews to a pack of wolves, one at a time.
)---Thx Mark
P.S. Thanks LT. for the informative post, and to everyone for showing your knives. And to galvanic 