Info on my great-grandfather's knife...

MXDan

MXDan

Joined
Jan 21, 2003
Messages
252
A few years ago I inherited a small slipjoint from my g-grandfather. It is a small (2in.) two-bladed slipjoint with apparently MOP scales. One side has a whitetail deer on it. It says Imperial Prov. R.I. on the bottom of the main blade. I looked in the archives and couldn't find anything on the manufacturer. If anyone knows anything abouth this company or knife, I would appreciate it. I'd post a pic, but I don't have a place to host it.

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan
 
Hi Dan,
I am at work right now, but off the top of my head without my books, Imperial is an old established U.S. cutlery firm. Their quality ran the gambit depending upon the model. In this case since pearl handled knives were considered premium, I am betting the quality is quite high. Later on Imperial merged with Schrade (if I am not mistaken).

Send me the pic at gusk@bellsouth.net and we will post that puppy here and in Bernard's forum in hope to get better and more accurate info.

In the meantime enjoy that knife, nothing cooler to have than a pocket knife that has been in your family for a while.
 
It is definitely imitation MOP - actually it is most likely a hollow sheet metal shell with MOP colored plastic in a thin layer applied. Is the deer an imprint or is it a molded relief design?

Imperial made this type of knife with the "Imperial/Prov RI/USA tang stamp from the late 50's through maybe 1970 at the latest. Actually they made the hollow shell handle knives at their Providence RI plant from 1936 through 1982 (approximate), but the early ones through 1950's were stamped "Hammer Brand".

If you could post a pic, I may be able to tell you more
 
I emailed Bastid a couple pics, but he apparently hasn't had the chance to post them for me. I'm sure he's just busy.

The deer seems to be printed on the surface, as it is starting to wear off. There aren't any other words stamped on the blades, and the small blade just has a series of numbers on it.
 
O.K., so I thought I emailed Bastid a couple of pics, but unfortunately I was using MSN to email, and they suck. So I resent them correctly, I hope, and you guys will hopefully be able to see this knife sometime soon.
 
I will post them when I get home tonight after work. (God willing ;))
-Gus
 
Took a quick look at it during lunch today. It is plastic. It is no doubt knife for using using and remembering your great grandad.

I will get the pic up tonight and am sure knifeaholic can educate us some more. He is one of the more knowledgable folks who hangs around here and we are lucky to have him contributing.
 
Here we go.

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and the other side
 

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I'll bet that knife does, unfortunately, I never really knew my great-grandfather to hear any of them from him. I was only like 7 when he passed. This however, will be able to stay with me for me forever.

Thanks to everyone who has helped give me at least a concept of where this knife came from.

Dan
 
That is a typical "miniature" Imperial jack knife. I have never seen one with that particlar imprint on the handle. It is impossible to date it exactly. The earliest time frame would be around 1950. However, I am more inclined to think it is from a bit later, early 1960's. Imperial stopped making knives in their Providence plant in the early 80's. However, I believe that they stopped making these miniature knives much ealrier than that, probably by the early 1970's.

I have met some former employees of the Imperial plant that was in Providence. One of them told me an interesting story - when they were in high volume production on these miniatures, if they dropped them on the floor they would not even bother to pick them up - they would just sweep them up with the other floor sweepings. Then when they were moving equipment out after the plant closing, they found hundreds of them under the machines where they had fallen and gotten swept there.
 
Hey fellas-

I caught wind of this thread and was very excited. My grandpa also died and left me an Imperial/ RI/ USA 2 bladed pocket knife.

Mines a little thin oval shape with what looks like mother of pearl type handles and a shield on it.

The little blade also has all those numbers on it. I've always been curious if it was worth anything. But even if it was I'd rather part with my hand them give away my grandfather's pocket knife.
 
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