A Few "Baer" Items Of Interest

[ea42]

Howdy folks! Thought you might get a kick out of these :

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That knife elicits a few questions, doesn't it?

Eric

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

Cool stuff! The "Y-B Cigars" knife is a puzzler. Here's what I am thinking:

"Mrs. E J Baer" is Elsa Baer (wife of Henry)? Kind of neat she didn't use "Mrs Henry B Baer" as many women did back in those days. I found a short thread on those knives here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/117167-Y-B-Cigars

It implies Elsa liked a good cigar perhaps? When you bought 10 cigars you got that knife. I see steel tip bolsters as opposed to nickel silver so knife was made by Camillus in 1951? Camillus made similar knives for the Lipic Pen Company stamped LIPIC U.S.A. as well. Here's a "horses mouth" CAMCO post about all these knives: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/248037-Y-B-Cigars-jack-made-by-Camillus?p=2057113#post2057113

Here's a couple pics showing the original box those knives came in:



There's some guesses. I'm waiting to hear how close I came to what you were hinting at or if I missed it completely.

 

[Codger_64]

How cool is that! A bit more trivia for the trivia bin: Henry was born Henry Aaron Baer. At some point, he changed his middle name to Bodenheim, his maternal grandfather's name. Henry Bodenheim was a hardware supplies partner of Aaron Kastor, uncle and patron of Adolph Kastor who hired Albert Baer to work at Kastor Bros./Camillus. Henry served in the Navy in WWI and a records search may show what name he was using at that time.

 

[JR42]

Outstanding! Thanks for posting this- great finds!

JR

 

[ea42]

Glad you like 'em guys!

Dave, you hit the nail on the head, it was Elsa Baer's knife. I have no idea how she wound up with a cigar knife either, although it was probably the convenience of having the set-up ready at Camillus for the Y-B knives that prompted it. Dave Swinden actually keeps the knife in his toolbox at the CS knife shop as a memento, he doesn't recall either how it came about.

Michael, thanks for refreshing my memory, I'd forgotten how the "B" came about

Eric

 

[Dave Thinkstoomuch]

Wow! The stuff we have to remember. Uncle Henry name change, Aaron to Bodenheim: check.

Thanks for adding that Michael and thanks again Eric, for taking the time to post these items.

 

[lrv]

A little from the archives.

 

[Codger_64]

They could have been Uncle Aaron knives!

 

[Codger_64]

Another software doubleing of posts.

 

[glennbad]

Those are some cool items, Eric. The knife especially...

 

[radiobob]

Hi, I'm holding one of those Y-B Cigars knives in my hand right now, slightly different pattern but very close, except the name on the side is Bob Renfro. Ring a bell with anyone?