Old Italian Lever Lockback

[tapedeck74]

Hi folks,

I bought this knife at a gun show this morning. It has quite a bit of patina, in my guess at least 50 years old. The lever and bolsters are aluminum. It functions pretty much the same as a lockback. If I depress the lever the knife does Not swing open on its own, there is too much tension from the back spring. So, the knife is opened with the nail nick. It locks open and the lock is released by depressing the lever. The only marking on the knife is "ITALY" on the blade tang.
Anyone else have one of these, I've never seen one before, and Google came up with nothing.

 

[tom19176]

Very interesting knife. The locking system is used on some Italian autos presently made by AKC, but this is being done as a throw back to models made in the 50s and 60s for present day collectors who like that style......

 

[tapedeck74]

Yeah, the first thing I thought when I saw it on the table was "auto", but it isn't. Just as cool to me though.