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Over the last 50 years I have been attempting to preserve some memory of the cutlery industry and the people who were involved in this history in the Hudson valley . To this end I have over the years tried to get at least one knife correctly tang marked from each company. Some of these are quite rare Grahamsville was only in business for one year. Still of them all, there has only been one marking which has eluded me.
In 1852 disgruntled cutlers from one perhapes the first recognized knife company left the employ of the Waterville Knife company in CT. They opened up the New York Knife company in what was then Mattewan NY. On the eastern side of the Hudson River. Mattewan is today called Beacon. This was due to the local area at that time being two villages. When growth allowed the name Beacon was taken for both areas. However the name Mattewan was given to the prison mental hospital for the ciminally insane which was built there. ( By the way that was the first institution I worked at. Which I am sure helps explain some of my unusual ideas which I often expound on ). The name Beacon came from Mount Beacon in the same area where during the revolutionary war warning fires would be started when the british attempted to sneak up and attack places like West Point, Kingston ect.
The New York Knife company Mattewan NY began in 1852 and produced knives until 1856. At this point they needed more room and power. The village of Walden offered them both and in fact the entire village turned out to help haul the factory across the Hudson and the 20 or so miles inland ( West side of the Hudson). Farmers with wagons and even private horse drawn carriages were used to get the fledgling company into its new home complete with horseshoe falls and the Wallkill River ( one of the few in the country that flows north from New Jersey into the Hudson in Kingston). For power.
So in 1856 the company became The New York Knife Company Walden NY this company then spawned the Walden Knife company, was instrumental in Schrade also being in Walden and through various twists played a part in Ulster ( then Ellenville Knife ) as well as a host of others. New York Knife was in business until the 1930 tys. The son of the original head of the group of cutlers from CT was named Bradley his adoped son went on the become a recipient of the congressional medal of honor in the civil war. He ( the son sold New York knife in 1903 ). It is an amazing story involving president Mckinley, tariffs, private deals and goes on and on. At one time this little village sold 50 percent of all the knives being sold in this country. That was during a time when every one carried a knife.
To tell this whole story I would have to write another book. So getting back to the reason for this posting. Of all these markings and 50 years spent trying to find them the only one which has escaped my clutches has been the innoucous Mattewan New York Knife tang. So rare was this beast that I had only heard of two one of which was worn so badly on the marking that one had to suppose it was correct the other which went far out of my spending bracket at the time that I wasen't even in the running to buy it. I know several collectors over 80 years old who have lived in Beacon all there lives and never seen one. In fact it is the first question they ask me when I run into them.
I had resigned myself that I was not going to ever put that last example in the case. As is often the situation an old estate find, in a pile of very unremarkable knives changed all that. This little beat up pre Jenny Lind pattern was exactly the knives they produced not much material needed and they brought a good profit. Genuine tourtise handles. Its handles are cracked, its blades are a fraction of what they were ( 150 ) years will do that. On the small blade the tang is just a few dots BUT the large blade has the whole marking.
So I thought I would post a picture so that the next time you go to a garage sale and find a cigar box full of these you could give me a call and we could trade I will take the knives and get a second mortgage you could go on an all expense cruise to the Bahamas.
This was the final tang. At least I think it is every so often something unusual or a small bit of history pops up and the quest begins again. So who knows. LT
In 1852 disgruntled cutlers from one perhapes the first recognized knife company left the employ of the Waterville Knife company in CT. They opened up the New York Knife company in what was then Mattewan NY. On the eastern side of the Hudson River. Mattewan is today called Beacon. This was due to the local area at that time being two villages. When growth allowed the name Beacon was taken for both areas. However the name Mattewan was given to the prison mental hospital for the ciminally insane which was built there. ( By the way that was the first institution I worked at. Which I am sure helps explain some of my unusual ideas which I often expound on ). The name Beacon came from Mount Beacon in the same area where during the revolutionary war warning fires would be started when the british attempted to sneak up and attack places like West Point, Kingston ect.
The New York Knife company Mattewan NY began in 1852 and produced knives until 1856. At this point they needed more room and power. The village of Walden offered them both and in fact the entire village turned out to help haul the factory across the Hudson and the 20 or so miles inland ( West side of the Hudson). Farmers with wagons and even private horse drawn carriages were used to get the fledgling company into its new home complete with horseshoe falls and the Wallkill River ( one of the few in the country that flows north from New Jersey into the Hudson in Kingston). For power.
So in 1856 the company became The New York Knife Company Walden NY this company then spawned the Walden Knife company, was instrumental in Schrade also being in Walden and through various twists played a part in Ulster ( then Ellenville Knife ) as well as a host of others. New York Knife was in business until the 1930 tys. The son of the original head of the group of cutlers from CT was named Bradley his adoped son went on the become a recipient of the congressional medal of honor in the civil war. He ( the son sold New York knife in 1903 ). It is an amazing story involving president Mckinley, tariffs, private deals and goes on and on. At one time this little village sold 50 percent of all the knives being sold in this country. That was during a time when every one carried a knife.
To tell this whole story I would have to write another book. So getting back to the reason for this posting. Of all these markings and 50 years spent trying to find them the only one which has escaped my clutches has been the innoucous Mattewan New York Knife tang. So rare was this beast that I had only heard of two one of which was worn so badly on the marking that one had to suppose it was correct the other which went far out of my spending bracket at the time that I wasen't even in the running to buy it. I know several collectors over 80 years old who have lived in Beacon all there lives and never seen one. In fact it is the first question they ask me when I run into them.
I had resigned myself that I was not going to ever put that last example in the case. As is often the situation an old estate find, in a pile of very unremarkable knives changed all that. This little beat up pre Jenny Lind pattern was exactly the knives they produced not much material needed and they brought a good profit. Genuine tourtise handles. Its handles are cracked, its blades are a fraction of what they were ( 150 ) years will do that. On the small blade the tang is just a few dots BUT the large blade has the whole marking.
So I thought I would post a picture so that the next time you go to a garage sale and find a cigar box full of these you could give me a call and we could trade I will take the knives and get a second mortgage you could go on an all expense cruise to the Bahamas.
This was the final tang. At least I think it is every so often something unusual or a small bit of history pops up and the quest begins again. So who knows. LT
)
