All About Pocket Knives

Can anyone ID this monstrosity?
So far 70 some people have looked at this, with no reply. I'm new at this, so someone tell me if that means it's junk or I didn't do something right or ya'll are stumped.

I've added 2 more pics. The knife came in this leather pouch. The other is a better shot of the tang stamp and shows HAHN stamped on the blade.

It is very interesting, I like it. I know nothing about it, except that it has horn handles and looks European to me? Is the tang stamp a representation of a mushroom? There are a few AAPK members from different areas of Europe, maybe none of them have seen it yet?
Dan

Thanks Dan....added a couple more pics.

Below is a link to some French cutlery marks. I can't find yours here, however, the site no longer works very well for me? I can see the page that comes up, but when I click on any of the other links it Safari cannot find the server? Maybe it might work better for you?

https://oldbritva.ru/wp-content/uploads ... THIERS.htm

Here is a link to some German makers marks, however, I can't find yours here either.

http://www.germandaggers.com/Gallery/Makers.php

HAHN does not show up in either Goins or Levines and I suspect that is just the end of the name.

Dan

Dan, both those links came up very clear, no luck. I'm thinking the HAHN thing is probably the original owners/soldiers name.

As there is no way to accurately determine the size of the knife from the photos(using a ruler or some other measuring device next to it helps)I cannot give you an accurate answer. It appears to be a multiblade gentleman's knife that looks to be about 3 inches long closed.They usually came with mother-of-pearl handles although I do have them with checkered and plain horn handles.Likely made in Germany and more than likely made by Adolph Kastor and Co.Here is a similar one also unmarked.

Hey, you are exactly right, 3" it is....nice to hear from a Michigander...used to live in Ypsitucky.
Still can't find that tang stamp.

I have a few old horn multiblades, German & French but i have never seen this marking. It possibly was made in a more eastern European country, e.g. Czechoslovakia.
kj

Could you provide a clearer picture of the tang stamp? It almost looks like an inverted basket with a bird in it to me. The stamp on the blade could be JOS. HAHN that was a straight razors manufacturer. Hahn is definitely related to the manufacturer and not the owner.

The knife is 100% German. Hehn is German word for rooster. In Germany, and especially in Solingen, there were hundreds of manufacturers and traders. Sometimes for some small businesses that have existed for 2-3 years, identification is impossible.
For example, one German guy, Herr Hahn, decides to do business and earn money. He goes to the neighboring house where Robert Klaas lives and tells him: "A neighbor, made me in your factory 5000 knives like yours, but with my name. Shake the hands, give the money, but the business does not shake and man goes to the States to conquer the wild west, or died from a British bomb somewhere on the Soma River.
The knife is nice and interesting.

btrwtr wrote:Could you provide a clearer picture of the tang stamp? It almost looks like an inverted basket with a bird in it to me. The stamp on the blade could be JOS. HAHN that was a straight razors manufacturer. Hahn is definitely related to the manufacturer and not the owner.

Thanks, I added 1 more, best I can do.


The more I look at it, it looks like a mushroom with two crossed horns or bugels

Eustace wrote:The knife is 100% German. Hehn is German word for rooster. In Germany, and especially in Solingen, there were hundreds of manufacturers and traders. Sometimes for some small businesses that have existed for 2-3 years, identification is impossible.
For example, one German guy, Herr Hahn, decides to do business and earn money. He goes to the neighboring house where Robert Klaas lives and tells him: "A neighbor, made me in your factory 5000 knives like yours, but with my name. Shake the hands, give the money, but the business does not shake and man goes to the States to conquer the wild west, or died from a British bomb somewhere on the Soma River.
The knife is nice and interesting.

Pity! And I came up with such a good story. The name of the blade has nothing to do with the manufacturer. And the manufacturer is Julius Pilz, Chechoslovakia.
http://nozirske-znacky.cz/cze/zarazene- ... ulius-pilz

Eustace wrote:

Eustace wrote:The knife is 100% German. Hehn is German word for rooster. In Germany, and especially in Solingen, there were hundreds of manufacturers and traders. Sometimes for some small businesses that have existed for 2-3 years, identification is impossible.
For example, one German guy, Herr Hahn, decides to do business and earn money. He goes to the neighboring house where Robert Klaas lives and tells him: "A neighbor, made me in your factory 5000 knives like yours, but with my name. Shake the hands, give the money, but the business does not shake and man goes to the States to conquer the wild west, or died from a British bomb somewhere on the Soma River.
The knife is nice and interesting.

Pity! And I came up with such a good story. The name of the blade has nothing to do with the manufacturer. And the manufacturer is Julius Pilz, Chechoslovakia.
http://nozirske-znacky.cz/cze/zarazene- ... ulius-pilz

Eustace, I liked the story and amazingly you found the manufacturer. Good job.

Thank you doglegg! The assumption of kootenay joe was closest. Goog eye, kootenay!

GENTLEMAN, GUYS, OLD MEN, ALL OF YOU, FROM THIS 79 YEAR OLD, THANK YOU FOR YOUR EFFORTS AND INFORMATION. MY GRANDFATHER IMMIGRATED TO THE US IN THE LATE 1800'S FROM CZECHOSLOVAKIA, DO YA'LL THINK THIS KNIFE COULD BE THAT OLD?

REDCROSSMAN

Redcrossman wrote:GENTLEMAN, GUYS, OLD MEN, ALL OF YOU, FROM THIS 79 YEAR OLD, THANK YOU FOR YOUR EFFORTS AND INFORMATION. MY GRANDFATHER IMMIGRATED TO THE US IN THE LATE 1800'S FROM CZECHOSLOVAKIA, DO YA'LL THINK THIS KNIFE COULD BE THAT OLD?

REDCROSSMAN

No. Czechoslovakia was created after World War I, after the breakup of Austro-Hungary. The knife was made after 1918.

Since ya'll told me about Julius Pilz, I tracked him down to the old Czech Republic....Check out the 1885 catalog with my knife. model or catalog #383/9. Now we know it was available in 1885, any way to know when it was actually made?

What you think huh???
Thanks Dick (redcrossman)

I think the catalog is not from 1885. Gründung jahr 1885 means founded in 1885. In the link that I have given above is written:
menší továrna založená 1885 v Mikulášovicích
1919 převedeno na obchodní společnost s podílem synů zakladatele
a s názvem Julius Pilz Söhne
Small factory founded in 1885 in Mikulášovice
1919 transferred to a trading company with a share of the founder's sons and named Julius Pilz Söhne (Julius Pilz and Sons). That means the catalog is after 1919.
Yes, they may have used the same stamps before entering the business registers, but this is unlikely to have happened since the first years of production.
And something else - оn the cover of the catalog is written Nixdorf CSR. CSR - Czechoslovak Republic. As we have already said, before 1918, such a state does not exist.

Eustace, thanks for the history lesson.
I live in Canada but i am sure it is the same in USA: we know very little of the geography and changes in the boundaries between European nations.
There have been so many changes in European nation states since the end of WW I, i bet most Europeans have some confusion about their own history.
kj

kootenay joe wrote:... i bet most Europeans have some confusion about their own history.
kj

KJ, this is absolutely true and the reason is that for 100 years ago, the history of European countries has been rewritten several times to meet the ideas of different leaders, ideologies, political systems and spheres of influence.
I can give many examples, but I will only mention one that concerns my people. Only 30 years ago I studied at school how a small tribe of horse barbarians (Bulgarians) came from Central Asia (mongoloids) on the Balkans, settled entirely with the Slavic population. In some inexplicable way they defeated the Byzantine army (several times) and created Bulgaria. It was written in the history books and, indeed, all this is not true. All this served panslavism ideas, invented in the mid 19th century, and warmly embraced by the Soviet Union in the 20th century...
Oh, sorry, sick topic...

THANK YOU EUSTACE!!!! You have gone over and above everything I expected. Now, when I give this to my genealogy buff daughter for her family keepsakes, what kind of value do you think we should we give it.

THANKS, DICK

I collect vintage European (mainly German) multiblade lobster knives similar to the o.p. knife. Basically the value is low because very few knife collectors are interested in them. This knife is from an obscure maker (lowers the value) and looks to be in good condition except for a broken scissor spring. If this was auctioned on ebay most likely winning bid would be in the $30-$40 range.
kj