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A little history lesson...

I love advertising knives, there's always so much variety in patterns and quality to make it interesting to collect. Above is a knife for the Good Roads Machinery Company they were in business with that name from 1892-1907.

Good Roads Machinery Company patented the "American Champion," the first four-wheeled pull grader, in 1877. It was reorganized under the American Road Machine Company name in 1889 after opening plants in Delphos, Ohio, as well as Groton and Marathon, New York.

The Good Roads Machinery Company was organized as the firm's sales branch, and Good Roads became the brand name under which the equipment, which included graders, rollers and rock crushers, was manufactured, although the American Champion name was continued for graders. The Good Roads name was a direct allusion to the Good Roads movement, under which dirt farm roads throughout the United States were being improved for automobile traffic.

The firm expanded into Canada in 1888, and the Copp Brothers firm of Hamilton, Ontario, gained sole licensing rights for American Champion graders in Canada in 1892. John Challen, the manager of Copp Brothers, bought the company out in 1896 and renamed it Good Roads Machinery Company, not to be confused with the sales agents of the same name for American Road Machinery. Challen's firm failed in 1907, and he became a salesman for American Road Machinery, which apparently acquired the firm's assets.

A new group of investors bought the former Challen firm in 1908 and reorganized it as Canadian Road Machine Company Ltd., and this firm also failed and was reacquired by American Road Machinery in 1909 as American Road Machinery of Canada.

New & Used Heavy Equipment Good Roads Machinery Company

There was no tang stamp but on the corner of the stamped handles were the name Bastian Bros Co. Rochester NY. Here's a little history on them, seems like they started their company around the same time. Robeson was contacted to make the knives while they stamped the handles.

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Permalink Reply by Ted Erdelyi on May 18, 2016 at 6:44

One of the amazing things about that knife was with very little info on the knife itself the only way to accurately date it was by the company, it took a lot of detective work to put a date on it but it was very satisfying when I was finished.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on May 18, 2016 at 13:38

Extremely good information on a cool advertising knife!!

Based on the info it is a Roberson which was jobbed from Bastian Bros...that is a lineage! Thank you for sharing this one

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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by John McCain on May 19, 2016 at 8:13

Here is a very interesting discussion about Bastian Bros. knives that has a lot of useful info, including Bastian Bros. history. They did indeed buy skeletonized knives from Robeson and possibly others and do the embossed handles themselves

.https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_forum/viewtopic.php?f=35...