old mini opinel how old is it?or is it fake ?

R

Redd Metzger

Joined
Mar 14, 2020
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when my dad was a kid in Italy he found an old opinel probably around 1955-60 and when i was a kid he gave it to me but im curious to how old it is or if its a fake for it has no locking mechanism so it was made before 1950 and the logo consists of the name and the crown missing the hand . i messaged opinel and received no response , so i wanna see if any of you guys know . thank you here are two pictures .....i hope i posted them properly
LV8oyEj.jpg
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RohTTHm.jpg
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https://imgur.com/gallery/LV8oyEj https://imgur.com/gallery/RohTTHm
 
Looks real. It is probably a Number 5 or smaller.
Only the number 6 and above are made with the lock ring, at least since 1955. Prior to that, none of the Opinel had a lock ring.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about a fake Opinel. I doubt anyone is going to go to the expense and trouble of setting up a shop to make fakes of a under $8 to $10 at full retail knife. Until recently the size 5 and under sold full retail for a lot less than that.
I think I paid around $9 for my number 8, five or so years ago, and it came with a (cheap/inexpensive) leather pocket slip. The number 6 and 7 I bought at the same time were both even less expensive. (The number 7 also came with a cheap/inexpensive leather pocket slip.)

What's the blade length? The "Number" of an Opinel is the (original) blade length in cm.
 
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I just want to say that anything with a recognizable brand name will get faked and it has happened to opinel recently.

I don't know to what extent and which sizes, but I just wanted to throw that out there.
It's only been seen very recently as far as I know, this one has some age to it so I'd say your definitely safe.
 
A larger picture would help, I'm no specialist but this knife has a strange flavor , the shield is def neither the Savoy cross nor the crowned hand... There's been tons copies and counterfeits since the beginning in Thiers, Italy (Marietti et all...) and recently Germany (Opiner :rolleyes:)... there's a dept. at Opinel dealing only with that.
(https://www.lecouteau.info/couteaux-régionaux-traditionnels/l-opinel/clones-copies/)
cache_10915812.jpg

cache_10916171.jpg

cache_10916299.jpg


Today the old Verdier factory still produces the Alpage and Coyote, both clearly inspired by the Opi:
Verdier-1.jpg
Verdier-2.jpg
 
Redd Metzger said:
when my dad was a kid in Italy he found an old opinel probably around 1955-60 and when i was a kid he gave it to me but im curious to how old it is or if its a fake for it has no locking mechanism so it was made before 1950 and the logo consists of the name and the crown missing the hand . i messaged opinel and received no response , so i wanna see if any of you guys know . thank you here are two pictures .....i hope i posted them properly
LV8oyEj.jpg
[/IMG]
RohTTHm.jpg
[/IMG]
https://imgur.com/gallery/LV8oyEj https://imgur.com/gallery/RohTTHm
Click to expand...
First, welcome to the forum, secondly I dont know anything about Opinels, but here's how you can post your pictures from imgur. When on imgur copy the url of the image, then when here click this icon I've circled here,
3j2yeEA.jpg

Paste the url in the window that pops up and click "insert"
LV8oyEj.jpg

RohTTHm.jpg

I took the liberty of copying the url from your links and pasting them here, some people don't like to click unknown links. Its pretty easy once you get the hang of it ;):thumbsup:
 
Somebody here has a chart that details all the specification changes over the years, including the blade stamps and handle graphics. My bookmark for the file was lost when an older computer died, but it is the best reference I have seen for dating Opinels.

The last time I made this inquiry, the keeper of this chart produced either the chart or a link. Anyone?
 
Opinel Number 2?

Jolipapa Jolipapa
Those knives may be inspired by Opinel, but they are not stamped Opinel.
I don't think it counts as a copy or clone unless they try to pass it off as the original?

Could the Opinel be considered a "pattern" like the stockman, Barlow, canoe, "Bowie Knife", etcetera that can be made and marketed by anyone?
 
Opinel is a registered trademark, I always supposed that if a knife doesn't have le main couronnée/crowned hand on the blade then an Opinel it is not. It can't be a pattern either as there are diverse Opinels: the numbered knives plus serpentines, saws, gardener's, filleting and more.
 
afishhunter said:
Opinel Number 2?

Jolipapa Jolipapa
Those knives may be inspired by Opinel, but they are not stamped Opinel.
I don't think it counts as a copy or clone unless they try to pass it off as the original?

Could the Opinel be considered a "pattern" like the stockman, Barlow, canoe, "Bowie Knife", etcetera that can be made and marketed by anyone?
Click to expand...
Ferrule knives is the pattern I guess. As Will said, Opinel is a patented trademark, at the beginning there were various stamps on the blade. Today only the crowned hand survived. These were other (made by) Opinel brands :
cache_33643801.jpg
cache_33643656.jpg

The Verdiers are just inspired by Opis. But all others are true counterfeits. The "Opiner" is quite recent.
 
From the better pictures, it appears it is a stainless n°2, no locking on n°2, so not a clone. Sometime the crowned hand is replaced by a single crown only on n°2.
According to the chart, stainless came after 1967.

par défaut 1.jpg

Another n°2, carbon, #1955 - 60
Opi3.jpg
 
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