What's the "oldest" knife in your collection?

My oldest Modern knife is this 1972 Gerber
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My oldest though are some of these, I have some in the 8,000 year old range. The oldest in this photo is around 6,000 years :)
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JP
 
I know it's no where near as old or as fancy as everyone else, it does have sentimental value. My SOG Navy Seal Pup that was given to me by my wife before my first tour in Iraq. (Early 2006)That was the first one and what started off my collection.
 
These are the first, oldest and by far most expensive in my collection(to date). Grandfather got these 3 on a trip to Hong Kong back in 1965, and i inherited them in late 90's. Took them to antique roadshow a while back and the appraiser said they were from 1880-1890, and came from Maguindanao Philippines. Top one is 42inches with Asian elephant ivory, amboyna wood, and silver inlays on the handle. 2nd one is a damascus kris with amboyna and sea turtle shell on the sheath, and the last one is pretty generic but part of the set.
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Aidenag said:
These are the first, oldest and by far most expensive in my collection(to date). Grandfather got these 3 on a trip to Hong Kong back in 1965, and i inherited them in late 90's. Took them to antique roadshow a while back and the appraiser said they were from 1880-1890, and came from Maguindanao Philippines. Top one is 42inches with Asian elephant ivory, amboyna wood, and silver inlays on the handle. 2nd one is a damascus kris with amboyna and sea turtle shell on the sheath, and the last one is pretty generic but part of the set.
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Nice kerises, i guess the middle one is Keris from
Central Java and the smallest one looks like Balinese (but i might be wrong since i am not expert on Keris).
For keris, the expert can tell you when it made by certain characteristics on the blade. The expert will know if the keris is a replica from the previous one, even though the replica itself made hundreds year ago.
I inherited kerises, sword, knife and spears from my grandfather. He passed to me when he died. It was around mid 1980s, when i was 11 years old. Have no pics of it and i am away from home.
 
Kohai999 said:
My oldest knife is a frame lock Assassin by Pat Crawford, picked it up at the NYCKS back in 1986 or so.
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STeven - I have an AG Russell version of the very same design that was part of a small collection I bought about 10 yrs ago. I'm assuming AG licensed it from Pat Crawford???
 
HTMD said:
STeven - I have an AG Russell version of the very same design that was part of a small collection I bought about 10 yrs ago. I'm assuming AG licensed it from Pat Crawford???
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Don't believe that I ever saw it mentioned, Buddy....have to ask him at Blade, maybe.

Sorry we won' t get to hang out this year, I'm more than a little pissed off about it.....frankly, family sucks, and familial obligation sucks worse.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Per AGRussell from another forum:

"The story is well known. I bought an early knife from Pat, played with it until I thought I could do the lock better. Asked Pat if he had applied for a patent, he said it was un-patentable (his mistake) and designed my "one hand knife) K87-C. When I was satisfied that I could sell them I sent Pat a check for $5,000, he never replied but did cash the check."

I believe the AGR improvement is the thumb stud for the lock bar. I've heard more colorful versions of the same story at knife shows.
 
brownshoe said:
Per AGRussell from another forum:

"The story is well known. I bought an early knife from Pat, played with it until I thought I could do the lock better. Asked Pat if he had applied for a patent, he said it was un-patentable (his mistake) and designed my "one hand knife) K87-C. When I was satisfied that I could sell them I sent Pat a check for $5,000, he never replied but did cash the check."

I believe the AGR improvement is the thumb stud for the lock bar. I've heard more colorful versions of the same story at knife shows.
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I heard essentially the same story, I have both the AG Russell and the Crawford Framelock, the Crawford is much nicer but but it's also more expensive, not to say the Russell is not nice 'cause it is, I carried a knife I bought from Mr. Russell himself at the first ECCKS in my wallet for 15 years.

I'll never forget that show, he cut himself on the blade and had to get stitches, he cleaned the blade, sold me the knife and then went to the hospital for stitches. Now that's customer service... ;)
 
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T. Erdelyi said:
I heard essentially the same story, I have both the AG Russell and the Crawford Framelock, the Crawford is much nicer but but it's also more expensive, not to say the Russell is not nice 'cause it is, I carried a knife I bought from Mr. Russell himself at the first ECCKS in my wallet for 15 years.
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Well, I do have a U.S. made A.G. Rusell model in CPM 154....it's nice, had to do an awful lot of handle smoothing to make it comfortable. If A.G. gave Pat $5,000, that was pretty fair and generous, there is no way that A.G. ever ate Pat's lunch, and between the designs Pat has done for Benchmade and CRK&T, he's done nicely over the years for himself.

Anyway, the Assassin that is in the collection is about as clever and well made a knife as any I have ever owned...it brings back great memories.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
For reference, A. G.'s "One Hand" version showing the small stud on the lock he mentioned....

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Best, Rich
 
My first "custom" knife was a fancy Jay Hendrickson forged hunter from the 90s. I don't remember the exact price, but it was a couple/few hundred bucks. Seemed like a lot of money at the time. It is one of several knives I own that I have never had photographed. I need to get around to having that done.
 
Not the knife I've owed the longest in my collection but the oldest in my collection is this Jerry Fisk Boot Knife w/nickel silver boot sheath. Jerry made this knife/sheath in 1995.
Interesting in that often the perception is that Ivory always cracks/shrinks over time. This carved Elephant Ivory is still perfect after 18 years.

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Kohai999 said:
...had to do an awful lot of handle smoothing to make it comfortable.
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That's the one reason this knife never sees the inside of my pocket. In addition to the slim, frame only version I have two others with 'imitation ivory' scales.
 
I recently had the opportunity to review and quickly photograph the Montana Historical Society's edged weapons (knife) collection, tho I would have liked that they had more, the bottom one in the photo here is from about 1890, most lacked promanance (history). What is interesting, from what I could tell, the wooden handles were secure but they added loosely wound leather straps (like shoe laces) to improve their grip. After reviewing all of them and taking their pictures I was asked if I liked, and wanted to see their gun collection... uhhhh YEAH.

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This is a wild story, accurate if maybe not truthfull.

Very briefly - a seriously disturbed woman I evaluated in a clinic setting suddenly stood up, lifted her shirt - revealing this knife (new handle by Chuck Burrows), inside a crude leather sheath and tucked into the waist of her pants. I'm speechless, she says, "This is supposed to be for you." She then placed the knife on the table, saying "All I know is it's a 250 year old shepherd's knife." I looked to her husband for clarification. He said, "She seems to know things other people don't. You might as well take the knife - she won't take it back."

Worried it might have some really bad juju (this knife was a small part of a bigger story) I asked Chuck Burrows, a.k.a. Wild Rose, to study it and turn it into something interesting - BUT not before I quickly posted it on Bernard Levine's forum under the heading of "250 Year Old Shepherd's Knife."

There were a few comments, the best being that it was probably something from the 1960s-70s re-enactment boom period. However, Bernard shows up and abruptly denounces it as a "fake" because "I've never in my whole life seen a 250 year old shepherd." :eek:

No matter since Chuck, true to form :thumbup:, pinned it as a probable copy of, or intent to mimic a similar shaped knife in common use by women in the 1800s - purposeful for most food and clothing related uses. Carried in a scabbard with an over-the-shoulder cord, it could also be discretely worn under a dress or outer clothing. Chuck divined Morrocan some how and applied camel bone scales with copper wire - along with an excellent period scabbard (not pictured, sorry).

So, if there's any truth anywhere in the story, this would definitely be my oldest knife.:)

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41 years isn't that old, but here's one I got in a trade with Mr. B.R. Hughes.

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I wish I had some info on this one. It came with a larger collection, also with no written or other documentation! Sad but true. Anyway, I've always admired the set and its pieces.

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