Custers Folding knife

[Gun Butcher]

 This picture is from a collection of Custers personal  items.

It is doubly interesting because of the deer foot handles and the fact that it has a corkscrew.

[KidTerico]

GB nice pict, different. KT

[St. George]

A 'very' common European-styled knife - remaining popular among sportsmen and hunters well into the 1960's, and still readily available in Europe.

Naturally, the corkscrew was for wine bottles.

Quality naturally varies - some are quite nice, while others are less so.

Over the passage of Time - they tend to lose hair.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Advertising]

[Marshal Deadwood]

Well, I'm authentic,,and over time,,,I've lost MY hair !

MD

[Ned Buckshot]

Veru Cool.

I wonder if this is the beginning of the "Swiss Army" Knife?

Ned

[St. George]

Sort of.

I believe that the 'true' beginning was probably with those 'Horseman's Knives' wilt multiple blades.

They were an early-day Gerber Multi-Tool, with picks, rasps, blades and such - carried in a saddlebag.

Expensive and uncommon even at the time, so they're both rare and expensive today - and are (in 'my' experience) either close to new, or beaten to death - with no real middle ground.

Cool things to find, though...

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Ned Buckshot]

I know I'll never be able to afford an original but it would be very exciting for me to see one in person. Do you jnow if they were generally used to care for a horses hoves (sp?).

Ned

[St. George]

They were.

Hence the name 'Horseman's Knife' and even 'Farrier's Knife'.

If you do some research in period trade catalogs from the hardware suppliers, you'll see several - though they're all pretty much alike.

It seems that those catalogs featured them - though I seem to remember that early 'Sears, Roebuck & Co' catalogs offered them, as well.

The suppliers to the trade usually have better illustrations.

Many that I've seen are European-made, with Stag scales.

They're on the 'ungainly' side - but if you had one in your saddlebag - you were prepared...

Today - average ones seem to be priced around $450 and up - though I do believe that they're also sleepers somewhere, since they also look kinda those Japanese 'Camper' knives and 'Utensil' knives from the '50's, and I think that many might overlook them at a garage sale.

Keep your eyes peeled.

Good Luck!

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Gun Butcher]

 Thanks for the info St. George. That is probably the best reason to do research that I have heard lately. I was really into the flea market thing a few years ago and I wonder how many real finds I walked away from because I didn't know what I was looking at.

[St. George]

Research always trumps consensus or opinion.

If you're serious - you buy reference books, or get them from the Public Library and 'read' them - not just look at the pretty pictures.

Doing so will educate your 'eye' as well as your 'sense' and you'll be much better able to winnow through the chaff at a flea market or an estate sale to net yourself something of value.

There are collector's shows and gun shows and antique malls and such - 'all' of their prices have risen sharply simply because of research on the part of the sellers.

Today - there are reference books on pretty much everything one would want to collect - from dug battlefield relics in Virginia, to the Kolb/Sedgeley Baby Hammerless revolver.

These weren't available a few years ago, but the field is growing exponentially.

If you want a bargain - they're still out there - but you have to bone up on precisely 'what' you're looking at, and at the fakes as well, and the only way to do that is to do your research and ask intelligent questions of the guys who collect and deal within your areas of interest.

Buy books before you buy the artifact - you'll know more than the other guy, and you'll save money, besides.

Good Luck - Good Hunting...

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Dr. Bob]

St. George is right about learning about the items that you intend to collect.  I have gotten some real bargains by knowing what I am looking at.  I got a Hudson's Bay style camp knife recently for $35, in an antique shop where I knew more than the dealer.  He had it priced and I was happy to pay him!  Got a nice Mexican scorpion tip knife at the same time for $30.  Great day!!  

[The Elderly Kid]

Peterson's "American Knives" (1958) has pictures of two horsemen's knives, figs. 171 & 177 complete with corkscrews, gimlets and stone hooks for prying stones from between horseshoe and hoof. The heavier-duty knife even has a fleam for bleeding your horse should that be necessary. The fancier one minus fleam, has pearl handles and was a gift from Joseph Rogers of Sheffield to President U.S. Grant in 1877. Incidentally, I once had a pocket knife with a gimlet and it was bar none the most useful tool I've ever had on a knife after the main blade. I bought it in '66 in Paris at a cutlery shop near the Opera. I lost it years ago and I've never found a knife with a gimlet since. Why don't they put them on pocketknives anymore?