Interesting Old Knife

[44-henry]

Found this at a garage sale this morning for a buck. I haven't been able to find out much about it. The blade is heavily stamped "Nothing My Equal 1796 Prussia". The blade is about 6 1/2" long, the bolsters are not integral with the blade but are steel and the tang is tapered. The handles are held on by small brass pins centered in thin brass washers. The handles look like ebony, but I think they are just a dark stained wood. The only info I can find is from Levine who felt they were very cheap trade knives of the mid to late 19th century, he didn't have a very high opinion of them, but this one looks to be decent quality and feels good in the hand. I'm curious if anyone here has more info about it.

 

[George]

I found a mention of "Nothing My Equal" butcher knives in an 1899 book, Hardware: A review of the American hardware market, Vol. 19, page 64. The white rectangle in the brownish ad.
http://books.google.com/books?id=4...AEwAg#v=onepage&q="nothing my equal" &f=false

Spence

 

[44-henry]

Thanks for the info, looks like in interesting book.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Nice looking and interesting.
My guess is not high value. But, cleaned up will probably be a great camp knife for cooking. Antique shops are great sources for old cookware.

 

[crockett]

Neat looking knife. I found this: http://www.icollector.com/Ft-Laramie-cutlery-set-collected-in-Wyoming-1897_i8670795
See if you can find out what museum in was in and the curator might know something. Then, I'd tell Levine so he can file it away.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I googled "Nothing my equal, prussia, knife" and came up with several - but they all had a crown in the middle of the handle scale.

One did identify the maker as "Henry Sears and Son" of Prussia. He was asking $31.99 but the condition of yours looks better.

 

[Thejeepster]

I do not want to advertise other forums but the one I am going to suggest is of no competition to this forum.

Go to Knifeforums.com and ask there as there are a lot of guys who really know their stuff.

It is where Mike Stewart hangs out at. He is the owner of Bark River Knives and he and his friends there know their stuff.

That is a very good looking knife and I would love to have one like it.

 

[BillinOregon]

You got a fine utensil for $1!

 

[kopfjaeger]

Can't go wrong for $1.00 Would be a nice knife to restore. :thumbsup:

 

[Alden]

Restore, but don't butcher it.
LOL