Vintage Iroquois Coke Bottle Folding Hunter Knife Utica, NY. Classic coke bottle, aka folding hunter pattern with single clip blade. Knife is 5-1/4 inches closed and 9-3/8 inches open. Blade tang stamp is IROQUOIS (inside oval) UTICA N.
The pattern number 31 is stamped on the tang back. Handles are imitation ivory with large, fancy banner shield.
Liners are brass and bolsters are nickel silver. Condition is "Used" - Excellent. Handles are very nice; there is a little shrinkage causing a gap between handles and bolsters - see photos.Blade is full length and width and still has the heavy "belly" that shows the knife was little used. I believe this knife was professionally cleaned prior to my ownership, but the cleaning was very light because the blade is full. There are a few freckles on the blade, but nothing I would describe as a pit or scratch. The blade has good snap and a slight wobble.
Photos are explicitly part of this description. Goin's Encyclopedia of Cutlery Markings lists the Iroquois tang stamp and dates it to 1920 to 1940, but provides no other information on the company. The fact that the knives were made in Utica, NY makes it likely that they were made by Utica Cutlery, which was known to make contract knives for many hardware companies and retailers. This blade had originally been tang stamped for another customer, a hardware company in St. Louis, and then overstamped with the Iroquois name. This was not an uncommon practice; if there were blades left over from a previous order, they would be reused on the next. The tang stamp is legit, you can see they are cut clean and the corners of the letters are square, as they should be. A rare brand, 80 to 100 years old, in excellent condition. The item "Vintage Iroquois Coke Bottle Folding Hunter Knife Utica, NY" is in sale since Tuesday, October 27, 2020. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Knives, Swords & Blades\Collectible Folding Knives\Vintage Folding Knives\Factory Manufactured". The seller is "jprh" and is located in Flowery Branch, Georgia. This item can be shipped to United States.