Childhood souvenir

Doug Add

Doug Add

Joined
Jan 9, 2012
Messages
3,331
My parents bought this cheap fixed blade for me at a souvenir shop in Cherokee, North Carolina when I was probably 10 or 11 years old (early 1970s). We were down from Indiana on a family vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

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Looks and feels like bone.

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It has never been sharpened, and spent most of these years (since my adventures with it concluded a few summers after I got it) in a desk drawer.

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OAL 11.1875", blade 5.875"

Blade markings:
G.C.CO
JAPAN
371
 
Wow, you got that from your parents when you were 10? Holy cow, even my dad, who was a gun and knife guy, wouldn't have bought something like that for me at that age. I don't think I got knives until around 13 or 14. Of course, I had knives, but those weren't really publicly known.

What a great piece of your past to still have!
 
Love it Doug, I have something (Story Wise) similar to yours :thumbup:

I can picture it now "The many adventures of Doug" and all the people you were and places you went with your trusty sidekick. At least we get to go back to those great places in our memories ;)

Paul
 
My most severe self-inflicted knife wound as a boy was when I sliced my thumb open with MOTS melon tester-type folder, trying to flick it open quickly like a switchblade. I guess they figured with a fixed blade I was less prone to foolishness. Good call, because I never did anything stupid with it.
 
Thanks for sharing this great looking knife and the story behind it. This reminds me to the two knives I got about 20 years ago at the age of 8 or 9.

I remember getting my first knife at the age of 8 or 9 (it was an SAK with my first name engraved in the handle and I still have it). My second knife I got from my dad was Solingen made fixed blade with plastic handles ... At that time I was the king at the playground and in the woods... :D (The SAK had a saw ;) )
So we could build small camps, bow & arrow ect and all such small-boy-things. I still have the SAK until now. The fixed blade got propably lost during time, unfortunatelly. At least I haven´t seen it for many many years - I should ask my dad about that knife.

The stories related to knives of small boys don´t seem to be limited to a country or continent or even decades between. They just seem to be borderless :D

Have a nice sunday, everyone
 
Humppa said:
The stories related to knives of small boys don´t seem to be limited to a country or continent or even decades between. They just seem to be borderless :D
Click to expand...

Indeed! One of (the many) reasons this is such an enjoyable place to visit.
 
Cool. The G.C.Co stamp is from Guttman, importers of cutlery from Japan, Italy, etc. Lots of stilettos and such.
Neat to have a piece of your childhood intact! :)
 
Thanks for the additional information! We had some Guttmans for neighbors when we lived in Pennsylvania. Wonder if there was any connection?
 
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