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I am glad that we found iknife. I am Heather and my husband in the picture is John. We inherited a knife collection from my father-in-law Larry Stanford. As we have learned with all collections, there is a story behind the collection.

Larry was a avid collector of WWII daggers and mother of pearl knives. John remembers going on family vacations to Grandfather Mountain to get knives for his father and swords for his mother. Growing up they lived a modest life and his father would bring home a new knife and it was his pride and joy. He would put them in a glass case and start saving for another new one. It did not get to come as often as he would like because his wife loved the swords.

After the wife was vetoed, his collection grew and he would often go to Knife shows in IL, KY, TN and FL. Christmas and Birthday presents were all knives for family and friends. My boys started getting knives for presents at about 6. I even got a knife Christmas ornament.

After Larry's passing, it was his desire for us to auction his WWII dagger collection. He bought those items at first as a love and then as he called it "his retirement". The knives have been in a safe for about 2 years. Some we are keeping and passing on to our boys and some we are going to sell and have a few leads out.

Our main objective is to find out about some of these knives. It seems that with these, he also preferred German knives. Larry would tell stories about his collection for hours. Between his knives and his daggers, there were over 1,000 of them combined. He had this room with 4 locks on it and a huge safe. We were only allowed to go in there when we did not have our children with us. We have 4 of them so history on these passed to us was limited.

With everything with Larry, there was a reason for these in particular. It had to be special to him to have a home in his special room.

We live in IL. I have a absurd need and want for knowledge. If someone tells me something and I find it interesting, I research it till I understand.

That is about all for Larry and his collection. I am sure that some will know him. Thank you for having this website so people like me can learn.

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Permalink Reply by Heather Stanford on October 5, 2015 at 21:52

And I put that in the wrong area. Sorry!

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on October 5, 2015 at 21:55

I have a absurd need and want for knowledge. If someone tells me something and I find it interesting, I research it till I understand.

I do also, it is how I became a knife collector knives and how I have a website devoted to this LOL.

Posting pics, here in this discussion will help. When you post a pic we are looking for the overall view of the knife, the tang (usually name and numbers at the bottom of the blade). Those items tell us what it is, who made it. I can tell you that is a sizable collection, the size of my own actually. I have given my kids some specific information for the two people they should call to sell the collection. Finding info and values on well over a thousand knives is pretty labor intensive but a labor of love if you are into it.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on October 5, 2015 at 22:00

You did just fine!
Heather Stanford said:

And I put that in the wrong area. Sorry!

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Permalink Reply by Heather Stanford on October 5, 2015 at 22:07

Thank you, Jan. I sure can use help. I am sorry if my questions come out silly at first but I will learn fast and ask less.

My first one,

Rodgers Cultery to His Majesty No. 6.

What are the initials for?

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Permalink Reply by Heather Stanford on October 5, 2015 at 22:10

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Permalink Reply by Heather Stanford on October 5, 2015 at 22:13

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on October 5, 2015 at 23:07

JMB may have been the buyer. That is a pearl handled whittler and would have been considered a gentlemans knife at the time

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on October 5, 2015 at 23:28

The maker was Joseph Rodgers

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on October 5, 2015 at 23:30

and for the history buff in you!

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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Doug Webber on October 6, 2015 at 7:56

Heather,

My knowlege of knives is limited to Schrade knives., Any marked Schrade, Schrade Walden, Schrade Cut Co, S.C.C. , S.C.Co. , Schrade I-XL, Ulster with an OLD TIMER shield, JOHN PRIMBLE with an OLD TIMER shield.. If there are any in your collection I would be happy to help you with values and info on them. I'm retired and have a lot of time on my hands. I've sent you a friend request. If you accept it then I can send you a PM with my Email address.

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Permalink Reply by Bryan W on October 6, 2015 at 18:57

Hi Heather and John

Welcome to the site! I may be able to help you out with some of your "research". Like many of the folks on this website, I have been involved with cutlery for quite a while now. My specialty is vintage German cutlery, of which I have been collecting, researching and writing about for a good number of years. Would be happy to help you out. Always love to see, share and learn with and about different people and their collections.

Enjoy and hope to hear from you soon!

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FeaturedPermalink Reply by dead_left_knife_guy on October 7, 2015 at 21:14

Welcome! I wish I could be of more help, but my tastes are far more modern, & consequently, my knowledge more on contemporary knives. Of course I'm in my early 40's & have plenty of time before similar collections of knives from Iraq & Afghanistan are passed down to the next generation for sale.

I am sorry to hear about your loss. While our specific knife tastes were clearly different, I think I can relate to your father-in-law's love for talking about knives. And I'm certain I'm not going to be the only one in here to relate to Mr. Stanford on that point.

You came to the right place. :)