Help with old Queen

[BladeCommander]

Hello, I have recently been dabbling in traditionals lately, and found an old Queen knife I would like some information on. I started my knife journey with traditional lock backs as a boy, but have since moved to modern folders as my primary carry. Over the past few months I have picked up a few freebies, pawn shop rescues, and flea market finds to restore as a learning process for traditional slip joints. I am having a lot of fun working on these and am learning a lot about slip joints in the process.

The knife in question I found at a pawn shop over the holiday weekend. It appears to be an old carbon steel Queen slimline Trapper 2 blade with bone handles. There is only one stamp on the clip blade, which is the Queen logo, no numbers or other markings that I can find. The blades are sharpened, but mostly all there, and has plenty of life left if treated well. Springs are a little weak now, but after tightening the pivot a bit the knife is solid. Just lost some snap over time. Clip point blade sits slightly proud of the liners, but I have not adjusted the kick just yet.

I am wondering if anyone can tell me when this particular model may have been made? And any other information I can get would be great. How much might it be worth? I have had little luck finding any info online about this particular model.

Thanks in advance. Pics below.

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[Modoc ED]

Quite possibly manufactured 1946 - 1955. Those were (I believe) the years Queen used the Q tang mark with crown laying on it's side. That said, most knives so marked were also marked Stainless.

It is not easy to date Queen knives as Queen would stamp out and mark blades by the hundreds and some of those blades would be put to use quite a few years after originally stamped.

Sorry I can't be of more help. I gave away my copy of "The History of Queen Cutlery" by David A. Krauss, Ph.D, to a member here at BF.

Hopefully,others will chine in

As to value, we don't do value in this sub-forum. You'd do better to ask in the Bernard Levine sub-forum.

 

[rma100]

Sargent's "Premium Guide to American Knives and Razors" , 7th Edition shows the same tang stamp with out the Stainless designation as 1932-1955. It also shows the same Tang Stamp Ed describes.

 

[BladeCommander]

Awesome. Thanks very much to both of you. This knife is quite old then. I consider it in good shape for it's age. I have not cleaned it up as much as it could be. I am still debating on whether I want to polish up the blades, or leave more of the patina present. The bone isn't in that bad of shape except for the cracks, which appear to be stable.

If anyone else has any info please feel free to share. I was surprised to see a carbon steel queen knife at first. Most I have seen are stainless. Very cool.

 

[Modoc ED]

I am not lectuering you but you and others who dally in old knives would be well served if you invested into some good books. The book i referenced and the book rma100 referenced would be a good start.

If that knife were mine, I'd leave it pretty much alone and just resharpen the point back into the clip blade and possibly clean it up a bit more. That would make a dandy EDC.

 

[knowtracks]

Try this....



Dave

 

[brownshoe]

I use Flitz on knives like that, works good. I have used super glue to stabilize a cracked pearl handle and it has held up to regular use and pocket carry.

I believe Gold members have the right to ask about value on any forum. They do so in the CRK forum.

 

[Peregrin]

I use Flitz on knives like that, works good. I have used super glue to stabilize a cracked pearl handle and it has held up to regular use and pocket carry.

I believe Gold members have the right to ask about value on any forum. They do so in the CRK forum.

Right you are.

 

[Rookie82]

It is a nice knife (#24 Slimline Trapper), but they are not particularly rare. Old winterbottom bone handles with big Q stamp. A collector willing to pay 80% of book price is going to want mint, unused blades and perfect crack-free scales. If you want to keep it for a user or to display, I'd go ahead and clean it up. If you plan on trying to resell it, keep all the grime and patina on it. Book value on a mint version is approx $100.

 

[BladeCommander]

Thanks everyone so much for your help. That answers all my questions. It's definitely not a collector quality piece. I will get it into working order and see how I like carrying it. I am still getting a feel for the patterns I like in traditional knives.