Best Boxing Day Purchase EVER!!!

B

Bobbybirds

Joined
Aug 17, 2012
Messages
180
So decided to hit up the local antique mall today to kill some time and came across this little display in the back of the booth. Made an offer to buy the entire works rather than a couple pieces and got it! I am super stoked as you don't see this type of stuff often out here in Alberta. In total there are 78 fully functional minature slipjoints/traditionals! I put a quarter in the pics for size reference. I am going to spend some time figuring out all the makers but they are all pretty cool none-the-less and I am super stoked to have these in my collection...

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Wow, instant collection! Did the deal include those display stands? They look pretty cool. When you find the time maybe you could show some of your new blades in more detail. Congratulations on the best Boxing Day find ever!
 
What a great find!!! I think we all look forward to seeing many close up pictures and descriptions of these wonderful little fellows.
 
Great find! I am sure you will enjoy sorting them out. I too am interested to hear the list and to see some closer pics!!
Congratulations, my fellow Canadian!!
 
That's a nice instant collection of figural knives and minis. I think I see a Heinz pickle knife in there :) :thumbup: Looking forward to seeing more of the knives.
 
Wow! That is a VERY nice find. I can fully agree with you that you don't find that sort of thing in Alberta often.
 
Going through the first half, here are a few of the standouts. I am going to have to work at figuring out the manufacturers but most seem to be from Germany, Sheffield and a few Japan...


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Bobbybirds said:
So decided to hit up the local antique mall today to kill some time and came across this little display in the back of the booth. Made an offer to buy the entire works rather than a couple pieces and got it! I am super stoked as you don't see this type of stuff often out here in Alberta. In total there are 78 fully functional minature slipjoints/traditionals! I put a quarter in the pics for size reference. I am going to spend some time figuring out all the makers but they are all pretty cool none-the-less and I am super stoked to have these in my collection...
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What a find!! That is very cool. Congrats.
 
Nice score! I buy lots of knives fairly often, sorting through them is half the fun:thumbup:
 
I think the mini "scouts" might be made by AW Wadsworth. I've seen one or two but that is the most that I've seen all together. ;) herder has expertise with figural knives so it's good that he has eyes on this topic. :thumbup:
 
That is a neat collection. Figuring out what everything is will be the next fun part of the experience.
 
What a cool find! And good on ya for scooping up the entire collection, its going to be fun seeing what you discover.
 
Thanks for the extra pictures and you have some great examples there. The majority are probably German made and Supratentorial is right that those mini scouts were probably produced through A. W. Wadsworth which was an American brand owned by A. Kastor. Wadsworth contracted most of their knives out to Germany and other countries in Europe in the early 1900s.
The only thing that gives me some concern is that one or more knives might be out gassing due to the breakdown of a celluloid handle. The black "Pipe" knife (which is very unusual) has heavy rust on the blade which looks like it is caused from out gassing. The red "Man in the Moon" knife (another uncommon and neat model) also shows the same rusting and was sitting next to the black "Pipe" knife on the display board. Hard to make out what condition the other knives are in that were next to those two and maybe you can show close up pictures of those. Most of the knives look unaffected but I would try to determine if one or more are causing a problem and separate them from the heard.
 
herder said:
Thanks for the extra pictures and you have some great examples there. The majority are probably German made and Supratentorial is right that those mini scouts were probably produced through A. W. Wadsworth which was an American brand owned by A. Kastor. Wadsworth contracted most of their knives out to Germany and other countries in Europe in the early 1900s.
The only thing that gives me some concern is that one or more knives might be out gassing due to the breakdown of a celluloid handle. The black "Pipe" knife (which is very unusual) has heavy rust on the blade which looks like it is caused from out gassing. The red "Man in the Moon" knife (another uncommon and neat model) also shows the same rusting and was sitting next to the black "Pipe" knife on the display board. Hard to make out what condition the other knives are in that were next to those two and maybe you can show close up pictures of those. Most of the knives look unaffected but I would try to determine if one or more are causing a problem and separate them from the heard.
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Thanks for that! Do I want to attempt a bit of a clean up or would that be a bad idea?
 
Unfortunately, there is no way to stop celluloid from going bad once it starts. The best thing to do for knives with celluloid handles is to keep the blades open and keep the knife out in the open to let any possible gas dissipate away from the knife. It is amazing just how corrosive that gas can be and I have seen several knives ruined because of just one bad knife that was near the others. I would certainly clean the blades on those affected models and then put a light coating of oil or renaissance wax on the blades to try and protect them from future gassing. I would say that the most important thing to do though, is to separate the one or two bad knives far from any other knives. Some celluloid seems to last forever with no problems, while others deteriorate like rotting fruit. But that shouldn't stop anyone from acquiring knives with celluloid handles as long as they take precautions.
 
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