# Okay, who knows a little somethin' about vintage pocket knives? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 23, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-who-knows-a-little-somethin-about-vintage-pocket-knives/635635 "2012-09-23T23:38:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-who-knows-a-little-somethin-about-vintage-pocket-knives/635635/1 "2012-09-23T23:38:40Z")
Found [this little beauty](http://www.flickr.com/photos/9460062@N07/8017513063/in/photostream/lightbox/) in my grandmother’s belongings, and am trying to find out more about it. It’s in pretty rough shape, sadly. [It’s tiny](http://www.flickr.com/photos/9460062@N07/8017513551/in/photostream/lightbox/), less than 3 inches closed, and not even 6 fully opened. 3 blades, one file. On one blade, I can read [“SWEDE” with a worn spot that looks like maybe it used to be an N](http://www.flickr.com/photos/9460062@N07/8017513225/in/photostream). Another of the blades has an easy to read 19 on it, which you can see in the second picture. A third blade has some words, but some parts of them are rubbed away, so it looks (using a loupe) like: \_\_\_\_MAN \_\_\_\_AGO \_WEDEN (You can just barely make these out in the first picture, upper right hand blade) The file has no words that I can see. After that, I got nothin’. The closest to something like it I can find online is this: [http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Vintage-Swedish-Sweden-ESKILSTUNA-Karl-880-4-Blade-Folding-Pocket-Knife-/261051060939?pt=Collectible\_Knives&hash=item3cc7db12cb](http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Vintage-Swedish-Sweden-ESKILSTUNA-Karl-880-4-Blade-Folding-Pocket-Knife-/261051060939?pt=Collectible_Knives&hash=item3cc7db12cb) but it’s got some pretty obvious differences in the shape of the file, the number on the blade, the decoration…so it may be a red herring. Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-who-knows-a-little-somethin-about-vintage-pocket-knives/635635/2 "2012-09-23T23:57:56Z")
Made in Sweden, probably a lady’s knife with the flowers and all, and given the size. Impossible to tell how old, but the blades look pretty abused. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-who-knows-a-little-somethin-about-vintage-pocket-knives/635635/3 "2012-09-25T19:36:03Z")
A Country or Origin label in English means that it was made after 1930. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-who-knows-a-little-somethin-about-vintage-pocket-knives/635635/4 "2012-09-25T21:40:35Z")
:smack: Ever start a thread and forget to go back to it? I’m sorry! Thanks, **Chefguy**. I’d sort of gotten that far, but only by blind assumption. Glad to see I’m not making completely erroneous leaps. **Zebra** , good to know, thank you. Hmmm…Not quite the response I was hoping for which was, I admit, “Oh my god that’s a Zapthrustra Original sold only to royalty, I’ll give you 10 zillion dollars for it right now!!!” Or, at least, maybe a lead on a maker. 😉 I’m mostly perplexed that 30 pages of google images for **Sweden vintage pocket knife** doesn’t yield anything even close. Weird. This is \*two \*items of hers the internet has failed me on! Humbug. ---
**Author:** ![Sofis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Sofis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofis)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-who-knows-a-little-somethin-about-vintage-pocket-knives/635635/5 "2012-09-28T10:32:46Z")
[This one](http://www.cultur.nu/knivar/fallkniv/fallknivmapp_2009/Emil%20Olsson%20nr19_parlemo_513kr.jpg) looks identical (including the number) except for the decoration, made by Emil Olsson. That’s from [a site](http://www.cultur.nu/knivar/index.shtml) by someone with a great interest in Nordic knives (specifically [this page](http://www.cultur.nu/knivar/fallkniv/fallknivmapp_2009/fallknivmapp2009.htm) listing knives sold at various auctions during 2009). His email is anders (at) cultur (dot) nu. Possibly he could tell you more. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-who-knows-a-little-somethin-about-vintage-pocket-knives/635635/6 "2012-09-28T11:28:15Z")
Thank you, Sofis! That does look promising. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-who-knows-a-little-somethin-about-vintage-pocket-knives/635635/7 "2012-09-28T14:06:49Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > A Country or Origin label in English means that it was made after 1930. Most likely made for export, or it would say “Sverige”. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-who-knows-a-little-somethin-about-vintage-pocket-knives/635635/8 "2012-10-09T06:24:26Z")
[Here is one on Ebay with four blades.](http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Vintage-Swedish-Sweden-ESKILSTUNA-Karl-880-4-Blade-Folding-Pocket-Knife-/261051060939?_trksid=p2045573.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D27%26meid%3D2612929718129886447%26pid%3D100033%26prg%3D1011%26rk%3D2%26sd%3D170921909362%26)