Folding knife, origin opinions please

[Interested Party]

Originally Posted by Kmaddock

Hi All


I was holding the knife last night and it occurred to me that when holding the knife open (there is no lock) my thumb naturally rests on the "fish like area" and this would be a convenient way to hold the blade open.

My work knife for agriculture is springless as well. I put a couple drops of water on the end with the blade's pivot point most mornings to help keep the friction adjusted and prevent it from opening and closing accidently. Horn would render that technique more difficult. One advantage of the curved horn handle is that if it opens in your pocket a bit it is harder to slice your hand (I have done that with an Opinel) which is why I only carry bill style knives of that lock design now.

I took a cursory glance of Medrano's Reflexiones sobre la navaja antigigua and came up empty handed. The only fish I found was the "Pez Judio" which wasn't close. I attached a list of German makers numbers 52 & 48 being the closest I found to yours, but not it exactly. Yours is definitely a stamp not a carving. There are some manuscript facsimiles which I didn't get through. The problem I saw while reading descriptions of marks is does this mark represent a fish? It also is close to the "vessel" of the Islamic world. I know, it most likely isn't, but it is a good example to illustrate my point.

It is a pretty piece. It is interesting that with all the decoration it is a penny knife (springless). This makes me wonder if it was made by a village smith who didn't want to bother with the troubles of making a spring and/or a lock, and therefore whose mark was less likely to be recorded? To me being a penny knife means that it was made as a pure tool or a decoration, not a weapon.