Knife I found in an old army jeep

Edwood7

Edwood7

Joined
Mar 31, 2010
Messages
2,890
Look at this little knife I found in an old army jeep, it was stuck deep in the floor boards. It had a bit of rust that I cleaned off.

I don’t know much about old knives. (I really know nothing about them actually:o), so I need your guys help.

What do you think it is?

Can anyone tell me a little bit about it?

DSCN0778.jpg


DSCN0773.jpg
 
Last edited:
According to what I found it looks like it's possibly a 1950's knife by Imperial, out of Rhode Island, worth maybe $10-$20. Possibly much less if it's missing one of it's scales, which looks to be the case. Or does it have metal scales?

Either way, always good to find a knife. That's a good day!
 
fionafa said:
According to what I found it looks like it's possibly a 1950's knife by Imperial, out of Rhode Island, worth maybe $10-$20. Possibly much less if it's missing one of it's scales, which looks to be the case. Or does it have metal scales?

Either way, always good to find a knife. That's a good day!
Click to expand...


It has metal scales, were they army issued? It looks very plain, like something a soldier back then would have carried. I’m always looking for stuff, and its a grate feeling when I find something like this.
 
That's a fine looking knife. Can't tell you anything about it other than its a keeper!
 
ssblood said:
That's a fine looking knife. Can't tell you anything about it other than its a keeper!
Click to expand...

I am keeping it. It my first little traditional folder. I hope it’s not the start of another addiction. Who am I kidding! I’m hooked!
 
It's a common knife, 2 blade Serpentine Jack, made by Imperial, likely from 1950-1970 or so. There was a thin sheet of colored plastic over the metal handle to make it look like bone or just colorful, or whatever.
If you look on ebay you'll find many listed. The ones fully intact, basically unused hardly ever go over $20 and often are as low as $5.
There were the least expensive knives of their day, sold in hardware stores, etc, often from a cardboard display holding about 10-20 of them, at the cash register to entice you to buy one.
There were decent knives. Imperial kept the price down with the cheap handles, but the blade steel is decent and they held together well except for the plastic handle covering.
roland
 
rprocter said:
It's a common knife, 2 blade Serpentine Jack, made by Imperial, likely from 1950-1970 or so. There was a thin sheet of colored plastic over the metal handle to make it look like bone or just colorful, or whatever.
If you look on ebay you'll find many listed. The ones fully intact, basically unused hardly ever go over $20 and often are as low as $5.
There were the least expensive knives of their day, sold in hardware stores, etc, often from a cardboard display holding about 10-20 of them, at the cash register to entice you to buy one.
There were decent knives. Imperial kept the price down with the cheap handles, but the blade steel is decent and they held together well except for the plastic handle covering.
roland
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks. Its going in my work bag with all the rest of my toys. Thanks guys.
 
Interesting find,looks to be about the size of a Case Peanut.Traditionals would be the next logical step in your knife evolution.:D
 
Nice find. Imperial, Colonial, and Sabre were pretty much the Hardware Store knives of their day. They, surprisingly, held up well, for the most part.
 
The carbon steel blades on the older shell handled knives (as these are called - since the whole outer handle is a hollow tin shell that gets crimped onto the liners) were pretty decent cutters -- however later stainless steel bladed ones are not worth picking up off the ground.
 
More than any other pattern of knife, I think I saw more of those growing up. It seemed like everybody and their brother had a small serpintine jack.
It was the definitive pocket knife of the 1950's.

Carl.
 
That settles it, you can retire your Winkler! Send it to...me for proper storage!

Nice find. Some of my favorite knives were the small traditional folders I got from my Grandfather. I don't use them, but I love owning them. Since inheriting them, I have got myself a Case Canoe, and I'm eyeballing the Sunfish/Elephant toe pattern.
 
Quote Carl: "It was the definitive pocket knife of the 1950's"
Yep. the kind of knife a kid could afford to buy for himself if he had a paper route or did odd jobs in the community, and then carry to school and play "stretch" in the grass playground during lunch or recess.
Now, just an old fart's memories.
roland
 
could yall tell me some about those cause i have one like that except its a stockman the main blade on mine the backspring has absolutely no snap its still there but its almost like its worn out
 
Back in time a spell, someone gave me some Axis deer antlers from a TX ranch, I was busting a gut to get a knife with a piece for the scale. I choose this Ireland stamped Imperial as my transplanter, why I don't know....now I have 40 dollar scales on a 20 dollar knife....I think I didn't want to take a chance at messing up one of my Bucks.......with my luck ,this is probably one of Zerogees stainless ones...........300

Imperiala.jpg

Imperialb.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top