Kissing Crane

ono724

ono724

Joined
Jul 17, 2010
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I was looking at a knife display at an old time general store and saw a "Kissing Crane" knife. I believe the model was a KC-46 and was made in Italy. Does anyone have any info on these knives? Are they decent knives? This one was going for $35 dollars, was wondering if that's a good/bad price?

Thanks y'all!!
 
They are made by Falcon in Italy under contract for Kissing Krane. The older ones are good, and if in Stag that is a fair price for it...check Ebay for listings. The come in clip point blades and Kriss. I assume the one you saw had a clip point? They have hard steel and don't sharpen easliy. They do not make that good of an EDC for general work...
 
I had one kissing crane and I returned it because it was dull out of the box and had excessive blade play. I believe it was the scout model.
 
They also switched contractors, they're now made in China.
The Italian made knives are becoming collectible.
 
The new ones are now made in China and are of far less quality. The new ones are all 9" open and I don't believe they have kept the "KC -46" and other numbers after KC as a model number. The old Italian made ones were mostly in stag with some wood and horn ones made also. They were made in both Kriss and clip style blades and went from 6" open to 15" open.....I guess they do seem to be getting up there in collector's value as a 13" stag one went for just over $100 recently on ebay....You can look at the Falcon line offered for sale on ebay and SMKW if you like the style but are not collecting just the name Kissing Krane....If you truly like the one you saw, offer a bit less for it and see what happens......
 
How about the Robert Klass kissing Crane knives made in Solingen Germany?
-Bruce
 
Bruce very few of any are made in germany any more of the Robert Klass or KC name. The stiletto style were always made in Italy until the recent change to China....Lots of contract made knives under the license name of KC ....
 
tom19176 said:
Bruce very few of any are made in germany any more of the Robert Klass or KC name. The stiletto style were always made in Italy until the recent change to China....Lots of contract made knives under the license name of KC ....
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Thanks Tom. I guess I've got one of the very few on it's way then. :) Vintage Robert Klass, Solingen Germany. Should be here in a few days. ;)
-Bruce
 
Ballenxj said:
Thanks Tom. I guess I've got one of the very few on it's way then. :) Vintage Robert Klass, Solingen Germany. Should be here in a few days. ;)
-Bruce
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Bruce , I have one that's marked "Germany" too. I bought it in the early 90's for $25.
The construction is different than the newer Italian Falcon knives I have, so who knows maybe some older KC's were made in Germany.
 
JPD1998 said:
Bruce , I have one that's marked "Germany" too. I bought it in the early 90's for $25.
The construction is different than the newer Italian Falcon knives I have, so who knows maybe some older KC's were made in Germany.
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The photos of it that I viewed before I bought it said Solingen Germany on the blade. Oh, It also looked like real stag scales too. :cool:
-Bruce
 
PS, Here's an old Kissing Crane knife that pretty much has stayed in the drawer since new. :p
-Bruce
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All the stiletto style ones were always made in Italy, and all the old ones said Germany on the blade .....I ordered some knives direct from Italy years ago with the plastic pearlx handles and in about two dozen of them there were about six with the Kissing Crane logo and germany on the blade. I ask why and the answer were these were closeouts and they used blades they had from contract orders. Bill DeShivs ( the designer of the Leveretto) has stated the same many times about who made all the old Italian ones for Kissing Crane and others. The switchblade ones marked Germany ( some with the short blade) where all made by either Frank B or AKC ( same company as Falcon).....The new Falcon knives that are on the market are made for direct sale by Falcon and KC has switched to China...I some what suspect that when US Customs started to allow the import of the baynoet blades again and the end of the contract work for KC. Falcon decided to go this direct sale route with their name....
 
Okay, I guess the question I'm asking is: should I snag this Italian made KC46 up for $35 bucks? Does it have collector value?

Thanks!
 
tom19176 said:
All the stiletto style ones were always made in Italy, and all the old ones said Germany on the blade .....I ordered some knives direct from Italy years ago with the plastic pearlx handles and in about two dozen of them there were about six with the Kissing Crane logo and germany on the blade. I ask why and the answer were these were closeouts and they used blades they had from contract orders.
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Wouldn't that mean the blade was made in Germany, and the remainder assembled in Italy? Either way, sounds like you'd still have a German blade.
ono724 said:
Okay, I guess the question I'm asking is: should I snag this Italian made KC46 up for $35 bucks?
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Only you can answer that. If it were me, yes, I probably would if I liked it enough.
ono724 said:
Does it have collector value?
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Can't answer that either for sure, but it probably will have later if you "don't" buy it. ;)
-Bruce
 
Ballenxj said:
Wouldn't that mean the blade was made in Germany, and the remainder assembled in Italy? Either way, sounds like you'd still have a German blade.

Only you can answer that. If it were me, yes, I probably would if I liked it enough.

Can't answer that either for sure, but it probably will have later if you "don't" buy it. ;)
-Bruce
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Isn't that how it always works? :D It's not a knife I see myself using, so I'd be buying it just for collector value.
 
They "do" always seem to become collectable if you don't buy it at first. I've been looking at a particular knife for a while now. The first ones went cheap. Under $40 bucks. All the ones I've looked at since have gone well over $100 bucks. Figures! :rolleyes:
ono724 said:
It's not a knife I see myself using, so I'd be buying it just for collector value.
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I thought about buying one of those myself, but for one reason or another just never pulled the trigger.
-Bruce
 
No the Blades are made in Italy on those too!! The tang stamp saying Germany is laying on the bench to be used when ordered by the contractor...There was a big thread and pictures of the different stamps used next to a batch of unmarked blades a few years back on another forum that favors switchbaldes......I do understand the difference between use of partical product made elsewhere, BUT not the case here....these are 100% Italian....Is the knife a good value and a collectors item? It is priced at the higher end for what you are getting now, but MAY go up in value......the following for these is not the same as other styles of knives. Picklocks that were worth $500 are now selling for $300 on the auto side of these....If you like it for yourself them get it , but if not then pass on it...

If your interested in the where it was made part read this:

http://www.talkblade.info/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=230&hilit=large+stiletto
 
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Here is a pic of my old German Brown Mule and one I just got. Is the newer one Italian or Chinese?

If Italian, it ain't worth nothin' is it?



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Ballenxj said:
The photos of it that I viewed before I bought it said Solingen Germany on the blade. Oh, It also looked like real stag scales too. :cool:
-Bruce
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It's been here for a while, but I have only just gotten around to getting a shot of it.
-Bruce
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Does anyone know which mfg. made the s30v kissing crane auto. It was made in the USA.
 
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