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John Primble Belknap knife

I have a 2 blade John Primble knife and cant identify it's age or value. Can anyone help. Here are some photos.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on May 20, 2019 at 14:57

Tang appears to be the 40-68 stamp what is on the rear of that blade? Looking for a pattern number and is there a star or not

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Permalink Reply by Shannon Tice on May 20, 2019 at 15:24

I cannot locate anything on the back of the blade. I see no star. What do you think the handle material is.

Jan Carter said:

Tang appears to be the 40-68 stamp what is on the rear of that blade? Looking for a pattern number and is there a star or not

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on May 20, 2019 at 19:21

educated guess? Celluloid. If we could find the pattern number on the knife and it should be there we could likely verify that. The significance of no star means it was not Boker made

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Permalink Reply by Shannon Tice on May 21, 2019 at 9:46

OK. I'm just learning about Primble knives. What is the importance of Boker made? What do you think the value is

Jan Carter said:

educated guess? Celluloid. If we could find the pattern number on the knife and it should be there we could likely verify that. The significance of no star means it was not Boker made

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on May 21, 2019 at 11:04

Shannon,

As to the value...A knife is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Condition is almost always the deciding factor and the rarity of a tang stamp after that. In your case, the tang is fairly common and the knife is in poor condition. Although this is a different pattern, it is man made material and in fair to poor shape, just for a comparison https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Antique-John-Primble-Belknap-HDW-M...

I found this on another forum.

John Primbles have been made by MANY different contractors over the years.

Some of the ones I know of are:

George Wostenholm Cutlery
Roberson
H. Boker
Schrade
Schrade-Walden
Camillus
Case...(only "Baby Doctor" patterns very early on as far as I know)
Queen
Currently Blue Grass Cutlery owns the name and has contracted new John Primbles from overseas.
Every one that I have seen with a star on the reverse was made by Boker.