Something different...Letter opener/knife combinations

[Ray S]

  Haven't seen this featured on any of the threads here so I thought I'd post up a few pictures of some of mine.
Letter openers seem to go back for about as long as people were writing on paper or some other substitute;folding it;sealing it and sending it off to someone. The letter opener/knife combo has been around for at least a couple hundred years.They served several purposes:First the small pen blade was used to shape and sharpen quills used for writing in ink.Secondly;the main fixed blade was used to not only open sealed envelopes but was also used as a,"folding bone" to aid in constructing them prior to the manufacture of ready made envelopes. It was referred to as a folding bone due to the fact that many were made from bone that was flattened or ground to a blade shape.
The folding bone could be made of many different materials besides bone:Some were of ivory;mother-of-pearl;tortoise shell;wood;horn;and metal such as bronze;nickel silver or steel. At some point in time folding knife blades gave away to small fixed blades which served as ink erasers combined in a set with a letter opener and a wax seal.Also popular at this time was the invention of the lead filled pencil;both in fixed lead and mechanical versions.
The letter opener/knife combo became very popular during the early 1900's as an advertising medium.Companies would order these by the gross with the company logos emblazoned on the handles to give away as promotional items.Among the companies who specialized in this in the USA were Novelty Knife Co;B&B;Whitehead & Hoag;and Parisian Novelty Co. Later on companies such as Imperial Knife Co and Autopoint would dominate the field. They came in all shapes and sizes and while most had just one blade(usually a spey pattern)there were a few who added a small pair of folding scissors.Some were even switchblades. They seem to have pretty much disappeared from the catalogs after about 1960.
During the early part of the 20th century ink pens with refillable reservoirs started to come into favor and the need for a quill knife was made obsolete.Dip pens were still very much in use but now the pen nibs were made of steel rather than the more traditional feather quills.
Pens further fell from popularity shortly after WWII due to the invention of the ball point pen.This has further progressed in the invention of various types of soft and hard point pens. There are still those who insist on using nothing but a fine ink pen for correspondence but sadly they are in the vast minority. Today most communication is via the so-called,"Smart" phone which has probably contributed more to the "dumbing down" of the world.........but that is a story for another time.
As this will probably take a few posts I will try and show a couple of early examples that I have as well as some unusual ones and a couple run of the mill examples.They show up on e-Bay quite frequently and are usually very inexpensive to buy. Hope you enjoy this post and feel free to add any of your own to this thread.
First is an all pearl opener with carved scales and a small silver shield.The pen blade is marked,"YOULE" a name that so far has eluded me.
Second is another early one with an ivory blade and tortoise shell scales stamped,"V Crown R Toothill" which puts it as being made somewhere between 1837-1901. I have yet to find any info on this maker either.
Third is a metal handled ad opener made by Griffon Cutlery of Germany probably either slightly before or after WWI.
Last is a switchblade opener by Schrade Cutlery Co and the date is obvious.

[Ray S]

A few more if I may:

First is a group of four made by(top to bottom):Warranted Best Steel Germany;EKA Eskilstuna Sweden;Empire Specialties Germany;and Salm USA.
Second is an unmarked one that features a one piece plastic handle with metal spring inserted.
Third is another unmarked one with fancy sterling silver scales.
Last is a Peabody Cutler Co Germany celluloid handle with nickel silver advertising hot pressed into the handle.

[Ray S]

Last one for now:
First is a group of various letter openers;some have blades and some do not.
Second is a Japan made letter opener with 4 blades in the handle.
Third and fourth is a box of various letter openers;some with folding blades.
In the next installment I will try and post more individual pictures.

[kaput]

The last picture all looks like confiscated Prison Shanks 

[Ray S]

The last picture all looks like confiscated Prison Shanks 

I have a few of those kicking around somewhere and they aren't anywhere near as good as those. I'll have to dig those out and post a couple pictures.Courtesy of a friend of mine who was a guard at a maximum security prison in Massachusetts.

[Aloha]

Awesome collection.  The letter openers I see now are sad example of what you posted here.  There was a time when simple tasks like opening a letter was an event, if you will. 

[kaput]

The last picture all looks like confiscated Prison Shanks 

I have a few of those kicking around somewhere and they aren't anywhere near as good as those. I'll have to dig those out and post a couple pictures.Courtesy of a friend of mine who was a guard at a maximum security prison in Massachusetts.

yes please. That'd be very interesting to see. You think a convict has ever tried to use the excuse, nah man, I was just opening up my post?! 

[kaput]

Here's mine letter opener. When I'm not opening with my trad slippy that is...

[Poncho65]

Some very nice examples Ray  Wonderful history on them as well

Great thread

[David]

Great collection Ray! Thank you for sharing it with us.     

[Ray S]

Here's mine letter opener. When I'm not opening with my trad slippy that is...

A very nice example kaput;I have one of those with the Zodiac signs on it.I have found that Germany made some of the highest quality letter openers of any time.J.A.Henckels was one of the top makers.
Here are a couple of pictures of what I consider one of the most unusual non-knife letter openers. I did some research on it when I first got it trying to figure out the purpose of the handle.The handle is made in two pieces and is springy allowing the ends to be squeezed together.Inside the handle one side is smooth steel and the other has a piece of contoured rubber glued on.
It took a bit of thinking but then I remembered when I was a child(late 1940's) we would receive mail that had stamped on the outside:" Postmaster:This letter may be opened for inspection if necessary" although why this was done I am still not sure.The envelopes were designed so that a side flat was not glued and could be slid open without disturbing the original seal.This letter opener accomplished just that by sliding the envelope side in between the handles with the rubber piece against the flap and squeezing the handle.The rubber gripped the flap and the smooth side allowed it to be slid out without damage!
The advertised products are no less unique. Glyco-Heroin was a substitute for morphine back in the the early 1920's.It was created by Bayer Pharmaceuticals in Germany and was originally packaged in children's cough syrup(!) and was not removed until 1971! ;even though it proved to be more addictive than morphine.
The other drug (ergoapiol) was used to initiate a pregnancy termination before the advent of modern medical procedures.
As an aside in researching another knife with advertising of Bayer Pharmaceuticals in South America I found it an extremely interesting read.won't go into it here as it is a bit political.

[Chako]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. 

[Gerhard Gerber]

The last picture all looks like confiscated Prison Shanks 

I have a few of those kicking around somewhere and they aren't anywhere near as good as those. I'll have to dig those out and post a couple pictures.Courtesy of a friend of mine who was a guard at a maximum security prison in Massachusetts.

Why am I not surprised! 

Amazing collection and fascinating info