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Help identifying the maker of this knife and what it might be worth?

I bought this knife this past weekend at the local Flea Market in Jacksonville FL. The large antler red hue antler handle and unusual bend in the knife attracted me to it. The blade appears to be soldered and the brass guard has COWART stamped on one side and the number 12 on the other. There are no marks on the handle or the blade. Any help would be appreciated. There are two members on here named Cowart but I don't know if this is one of theirs.

John

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on December 19, 2012 at 9:51

iKC Member Bob Cowart III is a knife maker(and collector) out of Cody, Wyoming. He also can be found on Facebook. He has been making knives similar to this for many years. I don't know what a current value is but perhaps he will give us some idea what they originally sold for?

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Permalink Reply by John Markes on December 19, 2012 at 10:00

Thank you Mr. Hanner and thanks for the welcome to the site!

I hope it is one of Mr. Bob Cowart III knives and he can give me some history on it and how it was made. this was a Flea Market find buried in a display case with some junk knives. I took one look and saw the value in it and that it was built by hand. The people that had it had long forgotten it was in there and had no idea of its value. $25 and I took it home.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Cowart III on December 19, 2012 at 22:03

Well, I've been making knives for about 22 years now. So, I really don't remeber every one that I ever made to be exact. But that knife certainly looks like some of my earlier work. And for the first 2 or 3 years I did have my stamp on the finger guards because it was too hard for me to stamp the dang blade. Most of my knives were made with old railroad saw blades back then. Now, I can't be positive that this knife is one of mine, I can tell ya that it does look like some of my earlier handy work.

If you would like to see some of my newer knives, ya can get onto Facebook under ratler knives. Thanks for your question. Bob! Rat-Ler Knives ratlerknives@yahoo.com 307-250-7906

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on December 20, 2012 at 5:03

Well it was certainly a find and I believe, one heck of a deal at 25.00. That stag shows some gentle aging, has that warm look. The blade appears in great shape. NICE FIND!

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on December 20, 2012 at 5:04

Bob,

Thank you for taking the time to have a look and telling us a bit about your earlier work

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Permalink Reply by John Markes on December 20, 2012 at 5:36

Mr. Cowart,

Thank you very much for taking the time to look at it and respond. I would be very interested in looking at your newer knives and will have to have my wife do the Facebook thing because I don't Facebook. Do you have a website? Thank you very much for the history on this knife. I bought it from a rather unique individual that does black water diving in the rivers around St Marys GA. He mostly finds Civil War time frame related items. Personally I think he is nuts diving in water you have to feel your way around.