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In Memoriam Comment by John McCain on August 2, 2014 at 18:19

UPDATED INFO

Here is what I know so far-

A) -Based on your Bakelite sniff test, the brightly colored handle material is called Catalin (an early rival of Bakelite).They later became one company-Sometimes, both are referred to as Bakelite, but true Bakelite only came in brown and black- Anyhow, Catalin was invented in 1927 and was not used after WWII as other, newer celluloid-like materials were invented-These knives were not made during the war, so that would date your knife to 1927- 1945. Most likely, in the earlier range of that time frame- 

 B) The knife was made in Solingen, Germany for export to Brazil.

C)Your knife and sheath are definitetly a typical North Brazilian style called a Faca de Ponta or (pointed knife) in English-This was confirmed by Cesar Schavone , my IKC friend-These knives were typically carried by the wealthy as a sign of prestige, although the banditos  also liked these long knives-

D) The maker is still unknown, although I have found other photos with the same woman's profile image surrounded by a laurel wreath - They could not identify the maker, either- The " High Life" name was apparently used by several knife companies and knife importers and does not refer to a specific company- I have never seen the "H.D.A." on another knife and is probably the monogram of the recipient of the knife, particularly if he was some one of importance-

E) Your knife is in excellent shape for it's age- I found one other example with a similar handle material- In this case, green handles with yellow scroll lines- It recently sold for $325  and it was in MUCH rougher shape ( both the knife and sheath) if that helps you on value- 

D) The lady's image is probably a royal princess or queen-Some suggested  Princess Elizabeth  or possibly Queen Wilhemina of Denmark who had some connections to German nobility at times

Here is an image of  the other knife with the green  and yellow handles for comparison purposes

Comment by Jan Carter on July 20, 2014 at 14:19

great work there on helping this this one.  I would like to see a close up of that area also

In Memoriam Comment by John McCain on July 20, 2014 at 13:46

Vance- A very interesting and beautiful knife- I will tell you what I know and don't know- A) High Life is the trade name,and was made in Solingen, Germany- B)  The sheath is a typical Brazilian style sheath, and some of these knives were made for export to Brazil- The H.D.A. is most likely the initials of the recipient's name- D) Value for similar knives starts at $100 to $300+ -Now, for what I don't know-I have seen High Life trademark associated with maker Eugen Haering (sometimes spelled Haring with  an umlat ..over the A, also associated with Kronekrebs (Carl Julius Krebs) on some High Life knives, and also with knife importers G. C. Co. (Gutmann) who imported knives from Germany-With the English spelling, I would guess post WWII, although both makers started in the late 1800's and made knives for Germany during the war-Dates without further info are all over the map-I suspect the handles may be Bakelite or one of the other  early competitors- Google" testing for Bakelite" and there are some safe tests you can do, which can further date your knife-Lastly, would love to see a good close up of the gold area in front of the crossguard- Believe it or not, that image is probably your makers mark-That, and any other marks you find on the knife or sheath will help me narrow it down for you-