5-Blade Camper Leverlock

[autoknife]

This one showed up today. Only the second I have seen with the etched blade and the other was a single blade made by Robt Klaas. This one reminds me of an Anton Wingen and has a pretty neat, and very tiny tang stamp on the front which I tried to get a picture of. Kind of looks like a little man with a chef's hat with some writing and the date 1935. The rear has "Solingen" over "Made in W. Germany". Blades are all unused with a hint of age patina. Does anybody recognize the tang stamp?

 

[Desktop]

This one showed up today. Only the second I have seen with the etched blade and the other was a single blade made by Robt Klaas. This one reminds me of an Anton Wingen and has a pretty neat, and very tiny tang stamp on the front which I tried to get a picture of. Kind of looks like a little man with a chef's hat with some writing and the date 1935. The rear has "Solingen" over "Made in W. Germany". Blades are all unused with a hint of age patina. Does anybody recognize the tang stamp?

Your knife is a late Leverlock model from the Günter O. Melcher company.
Here is Günter's trademark which is the same as your stamp.
Nice score!

 

[cut]

Your knife is a late Leverlock model from the Günter O. Melcher company.

I doubt that it is a late leverlock model of that Solingen cutler.
Günter O. Melcher company invented an improved mechanisme for the flick spring in 1959. By then Günter O. Melcher crafted classic Springer knives just as shown in this thread and promoted its business on the company's letterhead

(Maker of Quality Pocketknives for promotional purpose and daily use)

The later letterheads are listing the company's business as maker and exporter of pocket knives 'speciality switchblade knives for hunters'.

Grüsse - regards

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[Desktop]

I doubt that it is a late leverlock model of that Solingen cutler.
Günter O. Melcher company invented an improved mechanisme for the flick spring in 1959. By then Günter O. Melcher crafted classic Springer knives just as shown in this thread and promoted its business on the company's letterhead

(Maker of Quality Pocketknives for promotional purpose and daily use)

The later letterheads are listing the company's business as maker and exporter of pocket knives 'speciality switchblade knives for hunters'.

Grüsse - regards

cut

There is no doubt that this Leverlock came from the Günter O. Melcher company, but whether he produced the entire knife in his factory is a different story altogether. There is more to the story about this particular Leverlock model and Günter's involvement - it's a late contract knife that is available with a variety of tang stamps. The 1959 German Leverlock patent by Melcher is for a design of a Leverlock with a 'replaceable spring'. There is an article in the latest SharperDeal Newsletter that includes a discussion of Melcher and his patents among other things.