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iKC Member in Need Request #2 - Baseball Bat Shaped Pocket Knife, St. Louis Souvenir

The Need

Similar to my first request, please take a look at this and the other postings I have similar to this one and share with me what you know about it. My goal is to use the information you provide to properly market and sell these knives to get a reasonable sale price while letting the buyer enjoy the full value of the piece.

Souvenir Folder – What I Think I Know About It

This is what I believe to be true so far about this knife:

It’s older than me - I was born in 1959....do the math..
A baseball used to fit in the scale which is now missing (a guess really)
It’s a souvenir knife for St. Louis, but not specifically for the Cardinals (another guess)

What I want to Know

Based on the bullet info above and judging the best you can from the photos, I would like to know the following:

Manufacturer?
Estimate year of knife manufacture?
Are the scales Celluloid?
Is the blade Carbon steel or badly pitted SS?
Should I clean & polish it or leave it as is?
What, in your opinion, is the value of the knife?
What, in your opinion, is a good sale price?

Please feel free to ask me questions, request additional photos, or whatever in order to assist you in your evaluations. Please also feel free to correct my understandings with additional facts, as I want the best info I can get to support the sale.

Thank you for your comments and assistance – it is greatly appreciated!

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Replies to This Discussion

In MemoriamPermalink Reply by John McCain on April 9, 2015 at 15:02

Lars-Best I can do on this is give you some educated guesses-- Vintage is probably 1920s to 1940's as that is when they were most popular--Without a legible tang stamp, hard to tell the manufacturer--- Several companies made these such as Camillus, Imperial, Shapleigh,and several others .If I had to guess I would go with Camillus or Fairmont Cutlery (which was a Camillus brand), mainly because I found a 2 bladed Camillus version with a very similar celluloid pattern which I'll show yo uat the end of the post. Yes, the missing shield was a baseball-- No idea on whether it is Carbon steel or stainless- I would leave any restoration to the buyer-- As to value, sadly not much---Most of these bat knives sell in the $5-15 range even in better shape--Especially rare or historically significant examples might hit $50- For example, one advertising a baseball team no longer in existence. You probably won't get more than $5-10 for it.

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Permalink Reply by Lars Ray on April 9, 2015 at 16:24

Nope - this is good, thank you. Naturally you find the "mint" condition ones! It's a great comparison - thank you. Your assumptions based on similar evidence is compelling, I just may use it as part of my write up.

As for any clean-up or restoration - I hear what you are saying. Ron Cooper provided me with similar advise on my CutCo post. Apparently refurbishing knives is not like refurbishing cars or furniture.

My Dad was born and raised in St. Louis - I suspect he obtained this piece during that period of his life (he can't recall this one.)

Thank you John for your time and research on my behalf - I find it both interesting and valuable, and I greatly appreciate your efforts. As I stated in a previous conversation with you - I dedicate these posting to science and to the greater accumulation of specific knife data for iKC archives. :-) Thank you -