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- Jul 7, 2014
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This was a huge discovery for me personally, but for others it is probably a knife that you would pass over at a yard sale for $3.
My grandfather passed away suddenly and unexpectedly after emergency heart surgery on new years eve 3 years ago. He and my grandma were a big part of our lives growing up, and my grandma still is to this day. Papa grew up in rural eastern North Carolina to parents who worked on a cotton and tobacco farm. He was born with type 1 diabetes, and his mother was told that he probably wouldnt live to be more than a few years old. Fortunately, he beat those odds soundly, living into his 70s and passing away from something completely unrelated to his diabetes. Growing up I always remember him having a small knife to cut something with, well before I thought anything of it. One big regret for me, is that about a week before his passing, I found out that I was going to be a dad, and he was going to be a great grandfather. I did not tell him at the hospital after his surgery, thinking it might be best to wait until his recovery was over - but things did not work out as everyone expected.
At that time, I was not into pocket knives yet. Later, as I got into the hobby, I really wanted to find one of his knives and be able to pass that on to my son, now 2 years old. However, for some reason none had turned up at my grandmothers house. There are a few theories, one being that my black sheep of an uncle had swiped them up after his passing and pawned them off. Hopefully this was not the case. I was devastated that we could not find any, and I knew that they existed somewhere.
Anyway, I was there this past weekend visiting my grandma, and while looking for the key to the lawn mower in a junk drawer, I found an old extremely worn slip joint. I could barely contain myself. It was in great shape, but extremely worn. No rust at all, and blades had some snap, but could use some oil in the joints. I took it home, oiled it, polished it very lightly, and sharpened it. Then I got to the research, and I think that it is a Boker model 9695 that once would have had the lined-background tree shield, and jigging in the bone. It would have had a spear main, and pen secondary. Today it looks more like a wharncliff with a punch! The shield is almost completely smooth, with a few spots where the lines behind the tree were faintly visible. Before a light polishing, the tang stamps were nearly undetectable. After a bit of polishing, I think that they were "BOKER USA" on the mark side, and "96 (tree) 95" on the pile side. I found photos of a near mint version of the same knife that is indicated to have been from the 1950s.
This is what a knife looks like after decades of pocket carry and use. My grandma could not remember if this was his knife, or maybe even his dads (my great grandfathers) knife. In either case, it is very dear to me. I will be thrilled to give it to my son one day.
Here are my digitally enhanced images of the tang stamps, or whats left of them. I enhanced the images to highlight whats left of the stamps.
See the lines left in the shield?
Finally, here is a photo that I found online of what I think my knife probably looked like when it was newer:
In the same drawer, I also found a Victorinox silver Alox Cadet. According to those stamps, its much newer between 1987 and 2005. It has less history, but will be just as valuable to me because it belonged to my Papa.
My grandfather passed away suddenly and unexpectedly after emergency heart surgery on new years eve 3 years ago. He and my grandma were a big part of our lives growing up, and my grandma still is to this day. Papa grew up in rural eastern North Carolina to parents who worked on a cotton and tobacco farm. He was born with type 1 diabetes, and his mother was told that he probably wouldnt live to be more than a few years old. Fortunately, he beat those odds soundly, living into his 70s and passing away from something completely unrelated to his diabetes. Growing up I always remember him having a small knife to cut something with, well before I thought anything of it. One big regret for me, is that about a week before his passing, I found out that I was going to be a dad, and he was going to be a great grandfather. I did not tell him at the hospital after his surgery, thinking it might be best to wait until his recovery was over - but things did not work out as everyone expected.
At that time, I was not into pocket knives yet. Later, as I got into the hobby, I really wanted to find one of his knives and be able to pass that on to my son, now 2 years old. However, for some reason none had turned up at my grandmothers house. There are a few theories, one being that my black sheep of an uncle had swiped them up after his passing and pawned them off. Hopefully this was not the case. I was devastated that we could not find any, and I knew that they existed somewhere.
Anyway, I was there this past weekend visiting my grandma, and while looking for the key to the lawn mower in a junk drawer, I found an old extremely worn slip joint. I could barely contain myself. It was in great shape, but extremely worn. No rust at all, and blades had some snap, but could use some oil in the joints. I took it home, oiled it, polished it very lightly, and sharpened it. Then I got to the research, and I think that it is a Boker model 9695 that once would have had the lined-background tree shield, and jigging in the bone. It would have had a spear main, and pen secondary. Today it looks more like a wharncliff with a punch! The shield is almost completely smooth, with a few spots where the lines behind the tree were faintly visible. Before a light polishing, the tang stamps were nearly undetectable. After a bit of polishing, I think that they were "BOKER USA" on the mark side, and "96 (tree) 95" on the pile side. I found photos of a near mint version of the same knife that is indicated to have been from the 1950s.
This is what a knife looks like after decades of pocket carry and use. My grandma could not remember if this was his knife, or maybe even his dads (my great grandfathers) knife. In either case, it is very dear to me. I will be thrilled to give it to my son one day.
Here are my digitally enhanced images of the tang stamps, or whats left of them. I enhanced the images to highlight whats left of the stamps.
See the lines left in the shield?
Finally, here is a photo that I found online of what I think my knife probably looked like when it was newer:
In the same drawer, I also found a Victorinox silver Alox Cadet. According to those stamps, its much newer between 1987 and 2005. It has less history, but will be just as valuable to me because it belonged to my Papa.
To my eye....absolutely gorgeous!!
