"Old Knives"

herder said:
With a nod to LongBlade's scholarly post, here is a picture with bit more meat involved. :)

Enclosed is a 100 year old Wilbert folding guard lock-back model with dark stag handles. Wilbert was a trade-mark of the Sears & Roebuck hardware company and was used from c.1908 to 1921.
Sears & Roebuck had used their own name on knives prior to the Wilbert name and it is unclear why they changed to the Wilbert name. Wilbert knives were all made on contract for Sears & Roebuck, but there is some evidence that Sears & Roebuck produced their own knives for a very short time around 1900. It has been suggested that the bulk of the Wilbert knives were made by both Napanoch and Empire, but I have never seen a folder like this one from either of those cutlery companies. A few pages back, galvanic posted a very nice similar model with a Utica blade stamp and I believe Utica was the contract company for this Wilbert. Utica was commonly known to contract more knives out to other companies than for themselves, and perhaps it's possible that other Wilbert knives were made by Utica in the early 1900s. Wilbert, while not well known, offered a wide range of folding knives in various patterns.

The Wilbert knife and a Sears & Roebuck catalog ad from 1912.

View attachment 835837

View attachment 835838
Click to expand...

Before I read your post, I thought that your knife looks a lot like my Utica (mine is missing the swing guard, but you can see the hole where it was originally). I posted this recently, but it's fitting to show it again. I got it for just over 10X the catalog price for your Wilbert, so Duncan is underbidding by about a dollar (I paid $10)
kNVheoV.jpg
 
Hey! I did offer a Tenner my friend!:D Man...Just look at the Bone on That one! Great Knife- Swing Guard or not Lambertiana! The Knife looks to have had little use! Bargain all day long for what you paid my friend!:thumbsup:

Awesome Knives Ladies and Gentleman,
 
My apologies Lambertiana- working in that driving Hot Sun all day + one Beer seemed to have relaxed me somewhat!
 
lambertiana said:
Before I read your post, I thought that your knife looks a lot like my Utica (mine is missing the swing guard, but you can see the hole where it was originally). I posted this recently, but it's fitting to show it again. I got it for just over 10X the catalog price for your Wilbert, so Duncan is underbidding by about a dollar (I paid $10)
kNVheoV.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice example with a full blade and great stag.
 
herder said:
Thanks, Campbellclanman (temping offer :) ), LongBlade, galvanic, and waynorth.
A couple of beautiful Wilbert saddle horn models, waynorth. Here is an ad also from 1912, and I smile at the first sentence following the model description.
Heck of a knife for well under a dollar. :)

View attachment 836389
Click to expand...

Still less than $20 in today's money.
 
herder said:
Nice old knife which dates to the early 1900s.
Click to expand...
Thanks Herder... I put the Goins excerpt in there to see if anyone would mention the AW Bradshaw & Sons knife doesn't look 150 years old :D I'll take early 1900's, I think that still qualifies as "Old" ;)

I guess I don't really follow why Goins (and other sources) has that AW Bradshaw & Sons Germany stamp only existing up to 1860 but the knife appears to be manufactured long after that. I read that AW Bradshaw being an importer and the fact that blades are stamped "Germany" are both indicators that the knife was manufactured in the 1890's to early 1900's... does anyone have reference material or other explanation for why this is? Goins includes the "Germany" portion in the encyclopedia excerpt so are the dates wrong? Are the blades original and knife assembled at a later date? Are they flat out forgeries using the Bradshaw stamp? Either way I am happy with the knife :D

- Curious in Wisconsin (Kevin)
 
veitsi_poika said:
I read that AW Bradshaw being an importer and the fact that blades are stamped "Germany" are both indicators that the knife was manufactured in the 1890's to early 1900's... does anyone have reference material or other explanation for why this is? Goins includes the "Germany" portion in the encyclopedia excerpt so are the dates wrong?
Click to expand...
I suspect that a lot of older research was based on incomplete records and encountering a few examples and trying to piece together a timeline. Threads such as this one, may perhaps give us a much wider shared reference sample than was available even to the most ardent scholars a generation ago.
 
IMG_2938.PNG IMG_2937.PNG Have not had the time to really sit and enjoy this section of BF. Finally had a leisurely hour to play on this site and just wanted to share what I'm sure a lot of my fellow knifeaholics feel and that it is such an enjoyable experience to get on here and see all the beautiful old knives and learning some new history and facts. And after missing it for a couple of days it is just extra enjoyable to immerse yourself in all of the antique knives and newly shared research. I have learned so much from everyone here and thank all the great contributors to this thread. This is my favorite section of BF. I was in my favorite knife store the other day and ran across this 1940 to 1964 6202-1/2 and had to have it. It is just on this side of being mint. Great walk and talk. The perfect pull for me on both blades. It's going to have to go in the pocket. I know it's not that old but I felt like it would fit in well here. Thanks again everyone.
 
veitsi_poika said:
Thanks Herder... I put the Goins excerpt in there to see if anyone would mention the AW Bradshaw & Sons knife doesn't look 150 years old :D I'll take early 1900's, I think that still qualifies as "Old" ;)

I guess I don't really follow why Goins (and other sources) has that AW Bradshaw & Sons Germany stamp only existing up to 1860 but the knife appears to be manufactured long after that. I read that AW Bradshaw being an importer and the fact that blades are stamped "Germany" are both indicators that the knife was manufactured in the 1890's to early 1900's... does anyone have reference material or other explanation for why this is? Goins includes the "Germany" portion in the encyclopedia excerpt so are the dates wrong? Are the blades original and knife assembled at a later date? Are they flat out forgeries using the Bradshaw stamp? Either way I am happy with the knife :D

- Curious in Wisconsin (Kevin)
Click to expand...

While Goins, Levines, and other cutlery resource books provide some great information, they aren't always correct. In the case of the A. W. Bradshaw history, Levine's book is actually closer with a time frame for Bradshaw of circa 1900. Adolph Kastor registered the XLNT trademark in 1905, but he wasn't even alive when that trademark was originally used by John Wragg & Sons of Sheffield, England in the mid 1800s. This is important because the Kastor XLNT mark can be tied to A. W. Bradshaw Germany. The "Germany" stamp alone nearly cements the knife as an American import from 1891 onward. As companies went out of business during the 1800s and early 1900s, it was common practice for other cutlery companies to acquire defunct names or trademarks, and Kastor did this with the XLNT trademark. Also, There is no listing for any A. W. Bradshaw in Germany in the 19th century. A. W. Bradshaw was simply one of many names that Kastor used in the early 20th century. Other "A. W. Bradshaw Germany" knives are known from the early 1900s which have twin models with different Kastor blade stamps. The Bradshaw "Winner" is still a fine old knife and over 100 years old, just not 150 years old. :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top