Info on old German stock knife

VikingBlood

VikingBlood

Joined
Jul 24, 2002
Messages
70
After reading the thread on whittling, decided to pull out my old whittling knife. It was originally my great-grandfather's, which would make it pretty old (think pre-WWI).
It could use a cleaning, but this is one beautiful, high-quality blade, and a very special heirloom. When I was in elementary school and junior high, (I'm 22 now), I was carrying it almost every day, sharpening sticks for killing bugs and frogs, and cleaning prairie chicken while hunting with my dad. It was just recently that I realised that this thing is probably quite valuable. Oh well, knives are made for cutting, right?
It has three blades, a clip point (approx 3"), and a sheepsfoot and spearpoint (approx 2" each) and a bone handle. The blade is marked 'Premium Stock Knife' on the big blade, and 'Hoppe' and 'Made in Germany'.
I did some checking around on the net, and all the only company I could find with the name Hoppe was one called 'Gottfr. Hoppe Sohne', from Solingen, who made a few SA daggers for the Nazis.
Does anybody have any info on this knife or the maker?
I'm gonna try and take some pics of it with my buddy's digital camera, and get them online soon, I'm pretty proud to have this in my collection.
Also, I could use some advice on cleaning this thing up. The handle and bolsters still look alright, but the blades are pretty tarnished.
Thanks, everybody!
 
Just called my Grandpa, and it turns out I was quite a bit off on my age estimation. He says he thinks it's from the forties, but he doesn't remember any farther back than that. He also called it "an old western producers knife", so that gives me something more to go on. Also, something I forgot to mention, the handle has a small shield on it (blank), which it seems was pretty common back in the day. It's made of the same material as the bolsters, which I think is brass.
 
This knife is probably made by Gebruder Hoppe (Gebruder means brothers in German) of Solingen, Germany. The company started making knives in 1919 and was still making them in the mid eighties. I am not sure if they still are.

I can't tell you any more about this company. You might want to ask about this knife on the Bernard Levine forum. The information that I gave you was from the second edition of Bernard's guide to knives and their values.
 
Thanks for the info, Keith. I found Bernard Levine's homepage. Apparently, if I can't find the info any other way, I could even send him 25$ with some pictures, and have it identified and valued. I didn't even know such a service was available.
 
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