Boker Celebrates 150 Years

[waynorth]

I hope this is the best Boker thread in which to post this older knife!!
H.Boker & Co's Improved Cutlery !!
The punch was patented July 25, 1911, and looks very much like Valley Forge punches I have seen - quite beautifully hollow ground!!
The Brand is etched on the blade, and tree images are stamped on the pile sides!!
Perhaps a Boker expert,( H herder ?) can enlighten me as to age/provenance??

 

[herder]

I hope this is the best Boker thread in which to post this older knife!!
H.Boker & Co's Improved Cutlery !!
The punch was patented July 25, 1911, and looks very much like Valley Forge punches I have seen - quite beautifully hollow ground!!
The Brand is etched on the blade, and tree images are stamped on the pile sides!!
Perhaps a Boker expert,( H herder ?) can enlighten me as to age/provenance??
View attachment 2126169View attachment 2126170View attachment 2126171View attachment 2126172View attachment 2126173View attachment 2126174

Charlie, thanks for reviving this thread with such a great old knife. Beyond the exceptional condition, that is the earliest and rarest harness jack that Boker offered.
The first time I see this model is in a catalog from 1914 but it might have been introduced a year or so earlier. By 1917, that model was seemingly gone, but Boker had introduced no less than five new and different harness jack models,
All the harness jack models were made in America and in the old Valley Forge factory that Boker owned. None were made in Germany.
While punch blades remained popular on stock and cattle knives from Boker throughout the modern era, harness jack models had disappeared well before WWII.
Interesting that they labeled this model as having a "Belt Punch".
Great knife, and what a treat to still see an original blade etch on a knife that's over 100 years old!!!

 

[sf fanatic]

For the last two years my brother has sent me the Anual Boker Damascus for my birthday. Both are beautiful knives and well made.
View attachment 2126534

 

[Alex.Y.]

I hope this is the best Boker thread in which to post this older knife!!
H.Boker & Co's Improved Cutlery !!
The punch was patented July 25, 1911, and looks very much like Valley Forge punches I have seen - quite beautifully hollow ground!!
The Brand is etched on the blade, and tree images are stamped on the pile sides!!
Perhaps a Boker expert,( H herder ?) can enlighten me as to age/provenance??
View attachment 2126169View attachment 2126170View attachment 2126171View attachment 2126172View attachment 2126173View attachment 2126174

I've never seen such a beautiful old Boker before. Thank you for sharing, Charlie! If only they made them like this nowadays...

 

[Campbellclanman]

Amazing Boker Harness Jack Charlie. As Herder mentioned- such beautiful condition - that’s a whole it of wow there !

 

[waynorth]

Charlie, thanks for reviving this thread with such a great old knife. Beyond the exceptional condition, that is the earliest and rarest harness jack that Boker offered.
The first time I see this model is in a catalog from 1914 but it might have been introduced a year or so earlier. By 1917, that model was seemingly gone, but Boker had introduced no less than five new and different harness jack models,
All the harness jack models were made in America and in the old Valley Forge factory that Boker owned. None were made in Germany.
While punch blades remained popular on stock and cattle knives from Boker throughout the modern era, harness jack models had disappeared well before WWII.
Interesting that they labeled this model as having a "Belt Punch".
Great knife, and what a treat to still see an original blade etch on a knife that's over 100 years old!!!

View attachment 2126512

Thanks for the comprehensive write-up, Neal!! I thought you might like to see this one! Though not mint, it has a lot of relevant information. The punch has a 1911 patent date, which was the year my father was born, so I think of him when I CE and CF this knife!!

 

[waynorth]

I've never seen such a beautiful old Boker before. Thank you for sharing, Charlie! If only they made them like this nowadays...

Amazing Boker Harness Jack Charlie. As Herder mentioned- such beautiful condition - that’s a whole it of wow there !

Thanks for the nice words, Alex and Duncan!!

 

[herder]

sf fanatic, a couple of good looking knives sitting proudly on my favorite magazine.

Charlie (and Duncan), here are a couple more fine old Boker harness jacks from 1917 to put on Santa's list.
I especially like the tear drop variation on the left.

 

[Campbellclanman]

I agree Neal- That Tear Drop is a beautiful example- but oh man...to have either one - OR BOTH!!! stunning Knives to say the least, I love it when Charlie shares his fine treasures. Thank you Charlie and Neal

 

[herder]

I agree Neal- That Tear Drop is a beautiful example- but oh man...to have either one - OR BOTH!!! stunning Knives to say the least, I love it when Charlie shares his fine treasures. Thank you Charlie and Neal

Without the many great and unique harness jack examples shown by you, Charlie, and others, I certainly would not have guessed that so many different variations existed.

 

[meako]

1914 to 1917?
Dont quote me but was Germany at war with pretty much everyone at that stage and maybe production in overseas plants was curtailed and channelled into other forms ?.....

 

[herder]

1914 to 1917?
Dont quote me but was Germany at war with pretty much everyone at that stage and maybe production in overseas plants was curtailed and channelled into other forms ?.....

Boker was in a unique position in that they manufactured knives in both Germany and the United States since the 1800s. While Germany probably diverted most of its cutlery production towards the WWI war effort, that was not the case for most of the American cutlers. The harness jack knives, along with a great many other models, were made in the United States in the early 1900s, and weren't necessarily impacted by the WWI era as they certainly were during WWII.