Key Chain Fob Knives

KnifeHead

KnifeHead

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Apr 5, 2006
Messages
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A few weeks ago when I went to the NKCA show in Shepardsville, KY, there was a person there that had a huge collection of key chain fob knives. I don't know a thing about them but was amazed at the variety of them. Apparently these were used as promotional and advertising items back in the day.

I have one that belonged to my great grandad, pictured here. This one is about 1.5" long closed and stamped USA on the blade.

Post'em here if you got'em.

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Sent with 51 Packards stamped with "Packard The one for '51" on the other side..
 
One from Italy,two from Spain,"Aint never been there,they tell me it's nice"
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Here's an Imperial...

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Glenn
 
I found a couple more...

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And an excerpt from the Imperial catalog:
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Glenn
 
VCM3 said:
One from Italy,two from Spain,"Aint never been there,they tell me it's nice"
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Spain - Very nice. I've only been to Barcelona. Nice little knives too. The toothpick is a dandy.
 
Italian I believe, from the Mirando Collection at Schrade. I've had no luck deciphering the stampings. 3 1/8" and 3 3/8" long. I've been to Italy and Sicily; in a word, Beautiful!!
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Advertising knives are one of my favorite collections 'cause they run the gamut from large sheath knives all the way down to the smallest minature keychain/fob watches.

Imperial and Colonial made a large portion of the small US knives and they mimic a lot of the larger patterns.

I remember bein' a kid in the 60s and goin' out to the country on summer weekends, almost every town truckstop rest area had a souvenir stand where you could always find little Bowie knives and little key chain folders.

You still see 'em once in a while and for me they always bring back memories of a simpler time.
 
Easy open Jack,$1.99 on the Bay
-Vince
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Boy, do I remember those. For a while there at the Penn Jersey Auto Parts stores they had a bucket of them on the counter. Anytime you spent a couple bucks on a tune-up kit or something they gave you one free. It had the standard white plastic/imitaion pearl with the Penn Jersey logo on it.

It seemed like in the 50's, just about every other person had a keychain advertising knife on the keyring. I also recall Goodyear having one, and State farm Insurance Company.
 
My first knife was a Trim Trio, one of those little three bladed multitools finished more like nail clippers, usually found with the promotional ad from some local company stamped into the folded steel handle, and a ball chain running through the hollow rivet.
 
Every time I see a thread like this I get a little depressed.

My grandparents had so many of those laying around in "junk drawers" the we all just took them for granted. When they moved, I was overseas, and they were just thrown out, I suppose. They were beautiful little things, wilth all different colors of celluloid (mostly) and names of companies that were mostly long gone, even at that time. There were exceptions to that, such as several railroad knives (railroads now mostly gone) and feed companies such as Purina (I loved the red & withe checkerboard).

Now I don't have any of them. Why don't we appreciate what we have?

When I go to knife shows, I always try to spend some time at the dealers specializing in those things. Not hoping for any bargains, but just to see them again.
 
Thanks for posting more of these cool little knives guys. Shaldag made me get a bit of a lump in my throat there for a second :( though. The festival season is upon us here in the Hoosier State and I will be looking for more of these little gems.:thumbup::cool:
 
Here is a little one advertising a famous champagne house. German made c1890s-1900s. A good e.g. of a dogbone bolster.
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Great pics guys, can't say mine are that good but you can see them.

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I've never taken the time to look up anything about them. The bottom one was my dads pocket knife and the top one was my wife's uncles.

Helle
 
Here are the two I have.

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The knife on the left is a Geisen-Forsthoff w/ two blades, nail tool, and imitation ivory handles. The knife on the right is a Bruckmann w/ two blades and celluloid.
 
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