Humpback Stilletto

[OldinAK-2]

I have a 13 inch Humpback Stiletto one side says ROSTFREI and the other side says PATENT. I got it with some gun stuff I bought and I don’t want to start collecting knives. Is this a knife that is desirable to collectors and if I was to sell it on the site what wouldn’t my asking price be? That would be fair to me and to the seller?

[Bill DeShivs]

It's absolutely collectible and reasonably valuable.
There are people who scan the forums looking for posts like this. Be careful of their offers. They are going to sell it at a large profit.

While I am not a knife dealer, if the knife works properly and the rear looks as good as the front, I would say a fair price for both you and a collector would be around $500.

[Mario]

Very cool knife! I was going to ask, does this one open with a coil spring or a leaf spring? The Frank B humpbacks use a coil spring.

[Bill DeShivs]

That one is an early coil spring model.

[Killgar]

Pictures of the inner workings of vintage, humpback, coil spring operated Italian stilettos are rare (I've only ever found one, below). So for those who might be interested, I'm posting the picture below. The design is a bit different than modern coil spring operated switchblades in that there is a hole drilled lengthwise, down into the tang of the blade (indicated by the red arrow and red dashes across the pivot hole), and the short end of the spring is inserted into that hole from within the pivot cavity, with the coils of the spring fitting into the cavity area around the pivot hole, and the larger hole in the liner.

Bear in mind that I'm not saying that this method of coil spring installation is the only method ever used by the Italians, but it is one method.

[Bill DeShivs]

That's exactly the same as the new coil spring knives that were sold by Frank Beltrame.

[Killgar]

That's exactly the same as the new coil spring knives that were sold by Frank Beltrame.

Good to know Bill. Thanks for expanding my knowledge yet again .

I've tried to find a pic of a hole in the end of the tang to go with the pic I posted, but couldn't find any. Apparently, people don't typically take a pic of their knives from that angle when the knife is closed. Still looking.