If a knife has an illegible tang stamp, but other discernible characteristics... Is it genuine?

When you first look at the knife like you say -the Main fits in perfectly with the rest of the Knife- I don't have your Knife at hand and unsure with the Springs covered if you can see the Spine of the Main if it matches the Spring near perfect?

The Patina mates in extremely well - in fact perfectly with the rest of the Knife, and like you said there is no evidence of harsh Joint wear to grind even the weakest tang stamp away (I am not sure if you have used a loupe just to check yourself on the Tang) but with Miller Bros I cant recall having seen a weak Tang stamp yet - unless of course it shows evidence of opening and closing wear to take off the Stamping, which this does not.

The Walk and Talk of the Knife could at times be different if the Blade has been replaced, compared to the other blades - but all these things I have stated are pretty insignificant on their own.
The Bolsters look totally even with the type of wear, there is no evidence at all - Bolster wise - someone has either re-pinned or even tried to tighten the Blade by Peening and leaving filemarks or sanding marks etc on the Bolsters, in saying this - if I wanted to finish my Bolsters and have no one suspect they had been touched? I would go through the grits then polish - then add wear marks if you were a real bad man in the knife world :eek:, and no one would tell.

The pearl Handles - when you look real close at them- have lots and lots of tiny wee scratches all over them- you can see this in the highlights of the Handles - the same as the Bolster wear, I honestly don't think those Bolsters have been touched in this manner ( my opinion only as I'm just sharing the way I observe ).

Your knife you can tell is different in many levels of the knife shown for sale on the auction shown in the link - first thing that hits you is the Long Pull ends in the Middle of the Swage on the knife for sale and yours it's more at the bottom - this doesnt mean anything on its own as I have seen variances in the same knife pattern from factory, The Main Blade on your Knife is WAY fuller than the obviously worn and well loved knife shown in the auction with the link you provide,especially towards the Tip, so comparing an identical Blade has gone for you here.

Have you looked REAL careful in different lights on different angles to try and catch a very faded etch? - its happened to me a few years later on one particular Knife.

The big difference I see when comparing your Knife and the one for auction is the size of the Nail Nick is huge in comparison.

The worrying thing is - to get the Main blade to match the Springs and yet replace the Blade? it is do what arathol has said and weld another Blade up to the Tang- and there are some clever guys out there - Magnification greatly would catch a lot of these guys out - but a good one? I doubt because I challenge you to go and magnify all your old Knives right in the Concave of the Tang Swage where it meets the flat face of the Blade - in ANY knife - under magnification the finishing lines look like huge harsh coarse unfinished-properly Grind / Sanding marks which would worry any man into thing that someone has welded a new Blade onto the Tang lol- I tell you they are harsh from Factory when Magnified - Im guessing they would be right?:rolleyes:

The only advice I have would be compare your full Blade shape with other older Miller Bros Catalogs, compare the Nail files etc- as there are so many variables, but unless you can find another exact Pattern of a near 100 year old Knife- Catalogs will be your only help. Im kinda thinking the Knife looks good, but I am far from an expert and know little.

I am really sorry if this is a Rave, but I am just trying to look at the Knife., and apologise in advance if this is a complete waste of reading time :oops:
 
Who really knows? Only the man who originally made it or the forger who forged it?

IF it has been a re-weld to the tang - and I'd say it is a big if- then it's been done with a lot of skill and patience. This suggests it must've been on sale for a lot of money to make the time&skill worthwhile.;)

Looking at the pictures of it closed, it shows the nick giving good access for the nail-file blade etc, backspring looks good. Mistakes happen in factory knives, perhaps it wasn't stamped in the first place, or wasn't intended to? The tang-stamp might've been worn off by an earlier buffer ride :eek: from some enthusiastic cleaner. It could be welded but you'd need decent magnification to see it and if a forger could do this then surely they'd forge the tang-stamp too? Just to make it appear legit.

Based solely on the photographs it looks OK to me, obviously actual examination is the only real test. As others have noted, you could sell it with this disclosure as a knife having all the appearances of a Miller knife, plenty would be interested.:cool:
 
While not common, it is certainly not rare for a blade to miss getting a tang stamp. As others have said you have to read the knife - I'm 100% certain this is an Ulster 58OT even though it has no tang stamp at all - not worn, not light, but simply missing - never struck. OH
Ulster-58-OT-Old-Timer.jpg
 
A word of caution:
Clicking the Worthpoint link showed nothing but DID crash my computer and bring up several security concern pages.
 
Looks like the real deal to me. It appears to be two examples the same pattern that could be separated by 20 years in production date. This could explain the differences in pull design but not so much on the lack of tang stamp. Obviously Miller made knives for themselves as well as other companies which would mean a lot of unstamped blades waiting to be marked as required. Was this one just put together using the unmarked blades by mistake or as a lunchbox knife?

As far as welding on a counterfeit blade to the tang, that does not seem like worthwhile endeavor in this Case (pun intended ;)). Pardon me if I am mistaken, but I always thought the reasoning behind this practice was to weld a full blade onto the tang of a knife with a valuable tang stamp? Doesn’t seem to be much reward in reblading a tang with no stamp at all?

I fully believe the knife to be a genuine Miller and my mind would be at ease with it. If ever selling it, I would simply state the facts as they are. There is always the possibilty of a 3rd example of this pattern surfacing one day in which the tang is stamped and it shares the same blade features as your example in which case your unmarked version could become a rarity.
 
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