Babe Ruth Knife

[CAMCO]

Today I visited the Camillus factory and I located the Babe Ruth and Hack Wilson knife records.

Tom Williams

 

[textoothpk]

Cool, Tom! I printed it out to keep with my Camillus catalogs. can you tell me the years they were produced?
Phil

 

[CAMCO]

The Babe Ruth and Hack Wilson knives were made during the 1930's.

Many years ago when Albert Baer was visiting the Camillus factory he told me about negotiating with Babe Ruth for permission to use his name on several Camillus knives (there were 3 models of the Babe Ruth knife). He asked me to try and find the original contract between the Babe and Camillus. I never found the contract.

Tom Williams

 

[El Lobo]

Thanks Tom...:thumbup: ...those are cool.
I happened to have a picture of this one. I don't think the stripes are Yankee pinstripes though.

Bill

 

[CAMCO]

El Lobo,
Camillus manufactured the Babe Ruth knife like yours (#5488 pattern) for a 1935 Quaker Oats promotion.
In addition to the model that you have a small 2 blader and a large 1 blade with woodgrain handles was offered.

Tom Williams

 

[lwfrog]

Thanks to all who answered. My mom will be thrilled, as we have not been able to find much info til now. Someone offered her $1500.00 for the knife a few years ago but she would not sell. Wants to keep it in the family. Nice to know that it is celluloid, not bakelite. Hers is simular to the photo posted. I will print all responses to my question and send them to her. Thanks again

 

[crich99]

Hi guys, newbie here...can you tell me the value of a camillus babe ruth knife - 2 blade - 2 1/2". One side is Babe Ruth with the baseball and the other is Washington DC. It has an animal print pattern in black/drab yellow. stamped sword with cross/swords pic and on the other side it says Camillus Cuttler co. Camillus NY USA. Thanks so much!

 

[edbeau]

The rules do not permit you or me to ask those questions. Must be a gold member or above.

 

[Ernie1980]

Edbeau is correct, but we would love to see some pictures of the knife! Welcome to the forums

 

[crich99]

I took pix but don't have a url...wish there was a way to just insert it...I have a large collection and just acquired this one...and thank you for the WELCOME! ) Didn't realize I couldn't ask about value; sorry about that. - Question - how do you clean brown spots from blades? thanks again!

 

[edbeau]

crich99, you need to put your pictures on a service like Photo Bucket then you copy the URL.

Brown spots like rust or something different? I use different grades of fine sandpaper then a buffing wheel on my grinder.

 

[edbeau]

crich99, you need to put your pictures on a service like Photo Bucket then you copy the URL.

Brown spots like rust or something different? I use different grades of fine sandpaper then a buffing wheel on my grinder.

 

[Codger_64]

Here is a catalog cut from hardware jobber Janney, Semple, Hill & Co. c. 1940.

 

[crich99]

Codger - that's great - thanks for the tear sheet! Still no idea of it's value but glad to have some history on it! thanks so much!

 

[Codger_64]

Codger - that's great - thanks for the tear sheet! Still no idea of it's value but glad to have some history on it! thanks so much!

They were low price-point novelty knives back in the day... a figural boys' knife. Wholesale in 1940 was .25 cents each, so retail might have been .35-.45 cents each. Tom, above, mentiones a Quaker Oats promotion. I've also seen them in United Profit Sharing catalogs of the era. Coupons came on all sorts of products including Wrigley's gum. They are interesting knives today, but not real high in value on the market. So many were made and quite a few survive, that collectors are really only interested in the most pristine examples.

Here are examples of two cover patterns followed by a 1932 jobber catalog cut so you can see the earlier price.

Here is a United Profit Sharing coupon:

 

[Vit_213]

2 blade Babe Ruth Knife

On the front side of the main blade there is a “Sword Brand” tang stamp, on the back there are 4 lines.