Empire Knife Company Research

aggiebuilder2003 said:
You must have a very understanding wife! I'd imagine there's a museum room in your house somewhere for all of your wonderful collection? My little room where my knives were had to make way for the new nursery, my second is on the way.

Chuck
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I'm at the other end of things Chuck. Years ago I built my wife an art studio above the garage!
When our last offspring moved out, I took over his bedroom for a den!
(Good way to keep them out also!:D)
 
These four knives came from Michael Mirando's collection, when Imperial Schrade was auctioned after closing.
The knife marked C.Mirando was apparently made by Michael's father who came over to help at Imperial for a time. Details are sketchy.
ItalianKnives-1.jpg

ItalianClose-1.jpg

These two are somewhat faded examples of "spotted horn", intended to resemble the more expensive Tortoise shell.
ItalianSpottedHorn-1.jpg

ItalianSpottedHornBladestamps-1.jpg
 
Venerable old footage, Louis!
I love old home cinema efforts. The self-consciousness of the people being recorded is different from today, where it has become so sophisticated and commonplace.
It is interesting that some of that film was purported to be "professional". We've come a long way.
 
Dear Codger,
FYI in your company history of Empire Knife, you might like to add that my grandfather, Frederick and his two brothers, Anthony and Dominick also originally from Frosolone, Italy all worked at Empire around 1910 and they eventually started Colonial Knife Company in 1926.
My name is Robert A. Paolantonio and spent most of my life in the 200 hundred thousand square foot factory that they built in Providence, R.I.
I was the only third generation cutler in the history of the company, and have quite a story to tell myself.
If you wish, I'd like to hear from you about the book I am in the process of writing about the family business....My E-mail address is bonfirebob11@cox.net
Thank you sir.....
 
Wayworth, I'm on the west coast in N.W.Washington. I just bought at a knife/gun show an old empire. It has sterling handles with a stamped grasshopper or locust on each side. Tang stamp is EMPIRE
WINSTED
2nd blade stamped EMPIRE No. 35(?) Approx. 3 inches long 2bld. blades open same side opposite ends. Any ideas on age? You seem like the guy to ask as your collection is awe inspiring. Thanks for your time, Kevin
 
Can you post a picture of the knife, and perhaps a close-up of the tang stamps Kevin?
 
waynorth said:
Thanks, Codger, for digging up the Empire info.
Many of you have seen this before, but I'll show it again for continuity of subject. My friend, who lives in Winsted, CT, the home of Empire spent many years putting this display together, and when I expressed interest, he sold it to me. It is constantly being upgraded, by both of us, and will be displayed in Oregon in April.
If you haven't been there, you must try to make it; it is currently the biggest exclusively knife show in North America, with 470 tables, with more possibly added this coming show. If the Bowie collectors come, it will be around 530 tables. My CT friend said it's the best show he's been to in years, for finding old, rare cutlery, and he's been to a lot of New England shows!
So here's the display; a replica of an 1880's exhibition display, with, of course, real old Empire knives!
EmpireDisplay.jpg

If you have information, knives, pictures etc. I am compiling for an article and/or book on the subject, so please don't be shy!!
Click to expand...

Hi,
I have a velvet covered box with 6 silver plated knives in it. On each knife it says Empire Knife Co 12. What are these knives for, dinner maybe? Is there value to these? It looks like they stay open and do not close.I don't know how to insert a photo. Any information would be great, Thanks, 63swc
 
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63swc, if you send me photos, I can post them for you.
Click on my name above for my email.
 
wing40 said:
Empire was also one of the largest maker of skeleton knives. This is a pic of one with 14K skins.

ebay314.jpg
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I recently came across this Knife but the engraving differs. There is an R and a +B. Does anyone have any information that may indicate if this is from The Empire Knife Co or perhaps a replication?
 
waynorth said:
Thanks, Codger, for digging up the Empire info.
Many of you have seen this before, but I'll show it again for continuity of subject. My friend, who lives in Winsted, CT, the home of Empire spent many years putting this display together, and when I expressed interest, he sold it to me. It is constantly being upgraded, by both of us, and will be displayed in Oregon in April.
If you haven't been there, you must try to make it; it is currently the biggest exclusively knife show in North America, with 470 tables, with more possibly added this coming show. If the Bowie collectors come, it will be around 530 tables. My CT friend said it's the best show he's been to in years, for finding old, rare cutlery, and he's been to a lot of New England shows!
So here's the display; a replica of an 1880's exhibition display, with, of course, real old Empire knives!
EmpireDisplay.jpg

If you have information, knives, pictures etc. I am compiling for an article and/or book on the subject, so please don't be shy!!
Click to expand...
I have a small stainless knife with 1 blade and 1 pick marked Empire. I know nothing about it
waynorth said:
Thanks, Codger, for digging up the Empire info.
Many of you have seen this before, but I'll show it again for continuity of subject. My friend, who lives in Winsted, CT, the home of Empire spent many years putting this display together, and when I expressed interest, he sold it to me. It is constantly being upgraded, by both of us, and will be displayed in Oregon in April.
If you haven't been there, you must try to make it; it is currently the biggest exclusively knife show in North America, with 470 tables, with more possibly added this coming show. If the Bowie collectors come, it will be around 530 tables. My CT friend said it's the best show he's been to in years, for finding old, rare cutlery, and he's been to a lot of New England shows!
So here's the display; a replica of an 1880's exhibition display, with, of course, real old Empire knives!
EmpireDisplay.jpg

If you have information, knives, pictures etc. I am compiling for an article and/or book on the subject, so please don't be shy!!
Click to expand...
I have a small Empire stainless knife with one blade and one pick. I'm new to this site how can I post a picture?
 
Most people use a free hosting service like Imgur. Here’s a link to a couple how-to pages:

RevDevil

Thread 'How do I post pictures from a.....'

Whatever kind of device you have? There may be an app for that. Look for a picture/file sharing host. Prefreably one that is NOT porn related. You can use imgur.com, flickr, or any others. There are tutorials online on the "How To" part, search for it. In the mean time, searching here for threads on the subject is also a good idea. It's not a new question by any means.


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KingMC

How To Thread 'How to: post pictures using Imgur (comprehensive)'

Since Photobucket has started screwing over their users with cost increases and 3rd-party blocking, I figure a few folks are gonna be switching to other image-hosting sites, the best of which is Imgur. Still free, still easy-to-use, here's a beginner's guide to uploading and sharing images using Imgur.

These steps work identically whether you are logged in or not, it's just that being logged in saves your images to your account too.

(MOBILE HOW-TO HERE)

Simple Upload-to-share:

Step 1: go to Imgur.com, and then click on the 'new post' button.

imgur1.PNG

Step 2: Choose...
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Or better yet, buy a membership and upload right from your computer/phone/tablet. Either way, it’s better to start a new thread rather than resurrect one this old.

Welcome to BF!
 
What a fantastic post, thank you for sharing all of this history! I have to say, I did a double-take when I read about Michael Mirando, that's my great uncle, and I actually carry the same first and last name. The family name was originally Miranda, and it looks like it got anglicized or recorded phonetically somewhere along the way, which was pretty common for Italian immigrants coming through at that time.


I also want to make a small correction on the village — it's Frosolone, not Frosilona. It's a small hilltop town in the Molise region of Italy, which has actually been famous for knife and scissor making for centuries, so it's no surprise that Michael and Felix came over specifically looking for work in cutlery. That's what their people had been doing for generations back home. Interestingly, Molise is also the region Robert De Niro's family comes from, so it's a pretty special little corner of Italy with an outsized mark on American culture!


It's remarkable to think that my great uncle came over, couldn't find work, went back to Italy, then returned and ended up helping found what would become the largest knife company in the country. The family always knew the broad strokes of that story but seeing it documented here with this kind of detail really means a lot. I'd love to connect with anyone who knows more about the Empire years if possible.


Thanks again for putting this together!
 
Codger_64 said:
One of our forum members has a special collection of Empire knives, and I thought you all might like to see his knives, and learn a bit about the company history. The lion's share of this history was compiles by the late John Goins, and his wife Charlotte Goins. Mr. Levine has contributed bits of information about Empire, and even a US EPA study was consulted. Also, writings by Albert Baer and Blackie Collins.

The Empire Knife Company was once a driving force in the early American cutlery industry. Begun in fits and starts under several names in Winsted Connecticut, according to John and Charlotte Goins, the company at its zenith in the 1890's, produced over 800 assorted knife patterns, and employed approximately 150 workers, making it one of, if not the largest cutlery in the nation at the time.

The name of the city of Winsted, one of the first milling towns in Connecticut, was an amalgamation of the names of two towns between which it was situated, Winchester, and Barkhamsted. As with most cutlerys (and indeed most manufacturers of every ilk) of the mid to late 1800's, Empire was established adjacent to a water power source, at the juncture of the Mad River and the Still River.

In 1852, under a different name, Thompson & Gascoigne (after the two Sheffield trained cutlers who immigrated to America to manufacture pocket knives), the shop was set up in a corner of an established table cutlery factory called the Eagle Works, located on Lake Stream, and was for a time fairly successful selling their wares through a local mercantile owned by Elliot Beardsley and James Alvord. However, the Eagle Works factory closed in 1854, and the two Englishmen lacking sufficient funds to buy or build a factory of their own, also closed.

Two years later, better funded and still marketing cutlery, Beardsley & Alvord bought a local tannery building and built an entirely new factory on the site. Finally, the cutlery had the name we now know as Empire Knife Company. Some of their earliest knives were made using parts left from the earlier enterprise, including blades already bearing the Thompson & Gascoigne stamp. In 1878, after the earlier death of Beardsley, Empire bought the Lathrop and Barton cutlery factory on the Mad River. Expanding yet again eight years later in 1886, the parent company, still known as Beardsley & Alvord, constructed yet another new factory on Norfolk Road. Then in 1890, they incorporated as Empire Knife Company. Company President Charles Alvord was joined by brothers George and Landon, operating the company until 1920, when both George and Landon retired, selling their shares. The company reorganized, but for the next ten years steadily declined and like many of the former cutlery leaders of the day such as New York Knife Company, after the stock market crash of 1929, closed their doors for good in 1930. The water rights reverted to the town of Winsted, and the buildings were purchased by Hudson Wire Company. Another reason for the closing, as mentioned later by Albert Baer, the dominant forces in the American pocket knife industry of the 1920's-30's was Remington, L.F.&C and Winchester. Retailers who did not handle at least some of the knives from these big three, just were not in the business.\. Looking to put idle factories and equipment to work after the end of the First World War, Remington plunged into the cutlery market with a vengeance. In late 1919, they began preparations and by 1920 were in production. The Remington and L.F.&C. Plants closed almost simultaniously in 1940, Remington turning back to their primary business, guns as WWII loomed upon the horizon. Their knife division was sold to Pal Blade Company. The metal stock of L.F.&C. Was purchased by Baer for his newly formed Ulster Knife Company.

As with researching any history, inconsistences, conflicts and oddities are found in records pertaining to the operations of Empire Knife Company. As a classic example, I located a document generated in 2001 on a piece of privately owned property located at 170 West Lake Street in Winchester which came to the attention of the U.S. EPA circa 1998. The report cites the property as being known as the J. Fragale Property, and goes on to identify previous occupants and their activities on the property. Union Pin Company is cited as the most recent previous industry located there (1910 to 1979), and most likely the operation which left residual contaminants such as traces of PCBs and other chemicals, however, further tracing of the property ownership shows the site owned and occupied by Empire Knife Company from 1859 through 1908. Milling, cutting, grinding, and polishing equipment was used in the production of knives, producing metal powder and lubricating oils as waste products. Waste disposal practices during these operations are unknown. Exactly how this fits with the general time-line above, as given by John and Charlotte Goins in 1998, I havent a clue. Perhaps the ownership of the property stayed with Empire after an earlier move, and they rented it to another company, or retained it for warehouse space. No mention is made of this having been the site of an earlier tannery. More sleuthing is in order!

Other interesting tidbits emerged from this research. When Michael Mirando first arrived in America from his native Frosilona Italy, he was unable to find work in his chosen craft, cutlery. He soon returned to his native Italy, but was back in America working at Empire Knife Company in Winsted by 1909. His brother Felix Mirando joined him there in 1910, and they stayed with Empire until 1916. At that time, the two brothers decided to go into business for themselves. They moved to Providence, Rhode Island to be near the jewelry industry, and began making skeletons for waldemar, or pocket watch chain knives. Thus another company, Imperial Knife Company, spun off from Empire and came to become the largest knife company in the country, and eventually, one of the largest in the world.

Codger
Click to expand...
What a fantastic post, thank you for sharing all of this history! I have to say, I did a double-take when I read about Michael Mirando — that's my great uncle, and I actually carry the same first and last name. The family name was originally Miranda, and it looks like it got anglicized or recorded phonetically somewhere along the way, which was pretty common for Italian immigrants coming through at that time.


I also want to make a small correction on the village — it's Frosolone, not Frosilona. It's a small hilltop town in the Molise region of Italy, which has actually been famous for knife and scissor making for centuries, so it's no surprise that Michael and Felix came over specifically looking for work in cutlery. That's what their people had been doing for generations back home. Interestingly, Molise is also the region Robert De Niro's family comes from, so it's a pretty special little corner of Italy with an outsized mark on American culture!


It's remarkable to think that my great uncle came over, couldn't find work, went back to Italy, then returned and ended up helping found what would become the largest knife company in the country. The family always knew the broad strokes of that story but seeing it documented here with this kind of detail really means a lot. I'd love to connect with anyone who knows more about the Empire years if possible.


Thanks again for putting this together!
 
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