All About Pocket Knives

I believe that these little morsels of cutlery and business history deserve their own topic/thread and "15 minutes of fame."
According to GOINS:
"c 1870-1959 Whitehead & Hoag was founded in 1870. They went out of business about 1959. This was an advertising specialties firm; the knives were made for them by a variety of cutlery manufacturers."

There is plenty of information on the Whitehead & Hoag Company itself and can be VERY EASILY obtained on-line. The Whitehead & Hoag Company itself is NOT what this topic is about. It's about the fob/pocket knives that were made for them.

So, which cutlery company or companies manufactured the fob/pocket knives for Whitehead & Hoag? Information on these fob/pocket knives is scarce at best. I did manage to find a few bits of information regarding them, scattered around the AAPK site. One interesting post said that H. BOKER & Co., also then of Newark, NJ and later of Maplewood, NJ was one of the manufacturers. H. BOKER & Co. bought the Valley Forge Cutlery Co. of Newark in 1899. ROBESON may also have had a hand in the process, but I am NOT positive. I could find no other cutlery company definitely identified or even just mentioned in regards to "W & H." Approximate dating of these fob/pocket knives can be fairly easy to do just by looking up the history, if any, of the companies advertised on the handles of the fob/pocket knives themselves. But I feel pretty safe in saying that they are definitely from the 1920's and possibly the early 1930's. If you have any fob/pocket knives, tang stamped "THE W & H CO - USA - NEWARK NJ", please post them. Here are the "W & H" fob/pocket knives that I have, so far. I've also included pictures, not mine, of some other "W & H" fob/pocket knives, also not mine (the seventh post down).

Captions, if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

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Captions, if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
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Captions, if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
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Captions, if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

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Captions, if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

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Captions, if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
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The following are NOT my fob/pocket knives.
The following are NOT my pictures.
The following pictures are for posterity and for reference.
Captions, if any, are on the BOTTOM of the corresponding picture(s).
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

Very cool collection Skip! Thanks for posting them! It looks like those fob/advertising knives were quite popular once upon a time.

Very nice collection, Skip. And a unique collecting focus.

Ken

Interesting direction of Collecting
Like the historical aspect combined with the period advertising pieces
Thanks for the neat read and show .

herbva wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 11:51 pm Very.....

Thank you Herb.

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 12:02 am Very.....

Thank you Ken.

Ripster wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 12:27 am Interesting.....

Thank you JP.

Here are a couple that I have.The figural handled model for the Traveler's Insurance Co.could possibly have been made by Daniel Peres in Germany. Most of the other W&H stuff I have is celluloid advertising material.

knife7knut wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 1:02 am Here.....

Again, I'm not positive, but I think that the 2 blade, oval shaped,
advertising pocket knives were a ROBESON product for "W & H."

Absolutely beautiful knives, Skip! Very nice collection, I like the agricultural related the best.

In regards to the Travelers knife, I think there are similar versions from different makers. Dan (Old Folder) posted one about a year ago from Meriden Cutlery, and in his post mentioned a similar one from L F & C. I have seen one of those. No matter the maker,
a train knife is cool!

Waukonda wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 2:14 am Absolutely beautiful knives, Skip! Very nice collection, I like the agricultural related the best.

In regards to the Travelers knife, I think there are similar versions from different makers. Dan (Old Folder) posted one about a year ago from Meriden Cutlery, and in his post mentioned a similar one from L F & C. I have seen one of those. No matter the maker,
a train knife is cool!

Sadly both blades were broken when I got it.Couldn't let it get tossed though.

knife7knut wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 2:25 am

Waukonda wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 2:14 am Absolutely beautiful knives, Skip! Very nice collection, I like the agricultural related the best.

In regards to the Travelers knife, I think there are similar versions from different makers. Dan (Old Folder) posted one about a year ago from Meriden Cutlery, and in his post mentioned a similar one from L F & C. I have seen one of those. No matter the maker,
a train knife is cool!

Sadly both blades were broken when I got it.Couldn't let it get tossed though.

No, you can't toss a train knife. It does have a Peres look about it.

Waukonda wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 2:14 am Absolutely.....

Thank you Ike.

A bit off topic but here is some other stuff by W&H

Here are the group pictures, fronts and backs, of my
"W & H" fob/pocket knives that I posted on page #1.
They are in the same position in both pictures.
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

Today I'm adding this "THE W & H CO - USA - NEWARK NJ", single blade fob/pocket knife to my collection. This is the second fob/pocket knife advertising this particular company, "ABSORENE MFG CO.", that I've obtained. I cleaned it up a little, took some pictures and here it is.

Congratulations Skip, it’s nice to focus , I do .

Ray, a catalog of your collection would be like the encyclopedia Britannica.

wlf wrote: ↑Wed Mar 17, 2021 9:41 am Congratulations.....

Thank you Lyle.

This morning I'm adding this "THE W & H CO - USA - NEWARK NJ", single blade fob/pocket knife to my collection. This is the second fob/pocket knife advertising this particular company, "THE SMITH AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL CO.", that I've obtained. I cleaned it up a little, took some pictures and here it is.

The very recently acquired items pictured below, provide either a possible "answer" to, or create ANOTHER question regarding the manufacturers of the pocket knives for The Whitehead & Hoag Company. The item pictured first, is an ad that I bought. It's for a free pocket knife from The Whitehead & Hoag Company. It's from the February 15, 1923 issue of "PRINTERS' INK." The lettering on the tang stamp, W & H in the ad, appears to be in block form. It isn't the curved lettering tang stamp that is shown on ALL the pocket knives that were previously posted in this topic/thread. The block form tang stamp, along with the distinct pattern of the pocket knife itself, suggests, at least to me, that a different knife manufacturer was used for this pattern of fob/key ring style of pocket knife, than was used to manufacture the previously posted pocket knives. The rest of the pictures are of a ROBESON - ShurEdge - U.S.A., fob/key ring pattern pocket knife. It measures just a hair over 3" closed. This pocket knife is almost identical to the one illustrated in the ad. The pattern/style is the same, but the company being advertised and the tang stamp are different. Does this prove 100% that ROBESON was one of the pocket knife manufacturers for The Whitehead & Hoag Company? I still don't know for sure, but it appears that they were involved. The ad is in GREAT condition. The pocket knife needed cleaning. I cleaned it, took some pictures and here it is/here they are. The company advertised on the actual pocket knife, "THE BANNER BUGGY CO., ST. LOUIS", existed from 1880 to 1921. There is a TON of very interesting information, on-line, about the company advertised on the pocket knife. There are also many, very interesting images.
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

New_Windsor_NY wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 9:39 pm The very recently acquired items pictured below, provide either a possible "answer" to, or create ANOTHER question regarding the manufacturers of the pocket knives for The Whitehead & Hoag Company. The item pictured first, is an ad that I bought. It's for a free pocket knife from The Whitehead & Hoag Company. It's from the February 15, 1923 issue of "PRINTERS' INK." The lettering on the tang stamp, W & H in the ad, appears to be in block form. It isn't the curved lettering tang stamp that is shown on ALL the pocket knives that were previously posted in this topic/thread. The block form tang stamp, along with the distinct pattern of the pocket knife itself, suggests, at least to me, that a different knife manufacturer was used for this pattern of fob/key ring style of pocket knife, than was used to manufacture the previously posted pocket knives. The rest of the pictures are of a ROBESON - ShurEdge - U.S.A., fob/key ring pattern pocket knife. It measures just a hair over 3" closed. This pocket knife is almost identical to the one illustrated in the ad. The pattern/style is the same, but the company being advertised and the tang stamp are different. Does this prove 100% that ROBESON was one of the pocket knife manufacturers for The Whitehead & Hoag Company? I still don't know for sure, but it appears that they were involved. The ad is in GREAT condition. The pocket knife needed cleaning. I cleaned it, took some pictures and here it is/here they are. The company advertised on the actual pocket knife, "THE BANNER BUGGY CO., ST. LOUIS", existed from 1880 to 1921. There is a TON of very interesting information, on-line, about the company advertised on the pocket knife. There are also many, very interesting images.
Click on a picture to ENLARGE.

Interesting thread Skip.