Portable men's care baby knife from Zwilling J. A. Henckels

[Arie Leib]

Hello, colleagues.
Today I will show you a baby Zwilling JA Henckels. It is made very well. Brass inside. There are good snaps. Most of all I like the spatula for cleaning ears 😆 There is no inscription "rostfrei" anywhere, so I think that the blades are made of carbon steel. The scales are made of plastic. I am not very familiar with the tang stamps of the Henckels Twins. Therefore, I cannot accurately determine the age. Carbon indicates an early release, and plastic scales indicate a later one. Therefore, I am inclined to think about the period 1930-1950. Enjoy

 

[siebenstern]

Serious question - might that spoon have served another purpose? Thinking about the roaring twenties and.... stimulants. This knife does look older to me, especially with the stamps.

 

[Arie Leib]

Serious question - might that spoon have served another purpose? Thinking about the roaring twenties and.... stimulants. This knife does look older to me, especially with the stamps.

The Great Gatsby immediately comes to mind. To be honest, I don't rule it out. My wife has a vintage Chanel pendant. Inside there is a special spatula for powdering your nose.

Unfortunately, I don't know since when they started using plastic for scales

 

[Hawkbill]

To me, that spatula seems to be a bit too small and not "scoopy enough" to be used for powdery substances. 😉
Ear-cleaning was my first thought, too.

The first plastics - also faux mother-of-pearl-like compounds - have been used since the early 20th century.

 

[Arie Leib]

To me, that spatula seems to be a bit too small and not "scoopy enough" to be used for powdery substances. 😉
Ear-cleaning was my first thought, too.

The first plastics - also faux mother-of-pearl-like compounds - have been used since the early 20th century.

Useful information, thank you. I was sure that faux MOP plastic was not used before the 1930s.

 

[kaiman]

That's a great tiny knife indeed, with - compared to it's size - a lot of tools. I'd say, a real lucky catch, congratulations! Do you know Neil Punchard's great book about Zwilling, "J.A. Henckels Knives"? There's an image with a "Baby Knive" of maybe this size ...

... (the one on top, of course ) that is chronologically dated ~ 1920s. And I'm sorry, but the pic in the book is that blurry indeed.

 

[Abu]

Serious question - might that spoon have served another purpose? Thinking about the roaring twenties and.... stimulants

Might have been possible, like „dual use“.🙄 I myself got no experience. But your consideration I have read several times. In an old catalogue it’s named „Ohrlöffelchen“ indeed. Funny to imagine someone‘s poking in it’s ears with such a tool.

I am not very familiar with the tang stamps of the Henckels Twins.

Obviously that’s really difficult even for experts. But anyway the stamp of your knife looks very special. Rough and figure only. As the knife is unusual too. Plastic instead of mother of pearl, perhaps a modern approach!

I would date it pre WW2, best guess.

Abu

 

[cut]

... the stamp of your knife looks very special. Rough and figure only.

Ich kenne bisher KEINE J.A. Henckels Messer, die mit einer derartig unpräzisen und ungewöhnlichen Marke ZWILLING gekennzeichnet sind.
Die hier gezeichgte Marke hat stark voneinander abweichende Merkmale der beiden "Zwillinge".
Alle mir bisher bekannt gewordenen Taschenmesser mit "ähnlichen" Logos der Zwillinge zeigen immer (bis auf die Armhaltung) identische Zwillinge.
Offenbar fehlen auf der Klingen auch Ursprungsangaben, z.B. SOLINGEN und GERMANY.

Nach meiner Einstufung handelt es sich um eine Fälschung (fake), die nicht von J.A. Henckels hergestellt oder vertrieben worden ist.
J.A. Henckels hat.

Grüße
cut

 

[Arie Leib]

Ich kenne bisher KEINE J.A. Henckels Messer, die mit einer derartig unpräzisen und ungewöhnlichen Marke ZWILLING gekennzeichnet sind.
Die hier gezeichgte Marke hat stark voneinander abweichende Merkmale der beiden "Zwillinge".
Alle mir bisher bekannt gewordenen Taschenmesser mit "ähnlichen" Logos der Zwillinge zeigen immer (bis auf die Armhaltung) identische Zwillinge.
Offenbar fehlen auf der Klingen auch Ursprungsangaben, z.B. SOLINGEN und GERMANY.

Nach meiner Einstufung handelt es sich um eine Fälschung (fake), die nicht von J.A. Henckels hergestellt oder vertrieben worden ist.
J.A. Henckels hat.

Grüße
cut

Hmm, Mr. Cut,
you have me stumped. I have never encountered a fake vintage knife. And the knife in the Neal Punchard’s book that Kaiman kindly provided us with looks a bit like mine. The stamp looks like a 1906 example. In that case, maybe one main blade is the original, and the other is from another knife with no name? I am completely confused.

Hmm, Mr. Cut, da bin ich ratlos. Ich habe noch nie ein gefälschtes Vintage-Messer gesehen. Und das Messer in Neil Punchards Buch, das uns Kaiman freundlicherweise zur Verfügung gestellt hat, sieht meinem ein bisschen ähnlich. Der Stempel sieht aus wie ein Exemplar von 1906. Dann ist vielleicht eine Hauptklinge original und die andere von einem anderen Messer ohne Namen? Ich bin völlig verwirrt.

 

[kaiman]

Hard to say whether this is a fake or not ... maybe the somewhat "strange" logo and the missing "Germany" and "Solingen" is due to the limited space? What are the sizes (length, blade/tools, ...) of this knife?

Könnte der seltsame Stempel aufgrund von Platzproblemen so geworden sein, wie er ist? Ebenso das fehlende "Solingen" und "Germany"? Wie sind die Maße bei diesem Messer?

 

[siebenstern]

After reading your comments and thoughts - the domed pins seem shabby as well. Maybe it was modified and reassembled?

 

[Arie Leib]

Hard to say whether this is a fake or not ... maybe the somewhat "strange" logo and the missing "Germany" and "Solingen" is due to the limited space? What are the sizes (length, blade/tools, ...) of this knife?

Könnte der seltsame Stempel aufgrund von Platzproblemen so geworden sein, wie er ist? Ebenso das fehlende "Solingen" und "Germany"? Wie sind die Maße bei diesem Messer?

I’m almost sure that the main blade is original. Look closely at the pictures with logos from different years. The 1900 stamp matches the one on my knife. It’s quite possible that there was no space for text on such a small blade. One source writes that the inscriptions rostfrei, Solingen, Germany were added later. My other knife JA Henckels, which we have identified here together, also has no inscriptions. Only the logo and the company name. I don’t know of any other blades or knife body. All rivets except one are factory-made and smooth. That is, only one rivet was changed, and not the one that holds the main blade.
Blade width 9mm
So, another mystery!

Ich bin mir fast sicher, dass die Hauptklinge original ist. Schauen Sie sich die Bilder mit Logos aus verschiedenen Jahren genau an. Der Stempel von 1900 stimmt mit dem auf meinem Messer überein. Es ist durchaus möglich, dass auf einer so kleinen Klinge kein Platz für Text war. Eine Quelle schreibt, dass die Aufschriften „rostfrei, Solingen, Deutschland“ später hinzugefügt wurden. Mein anderes Messer, JA Henckels, das wir hier gemeinsam identifiziert haben, hat ebenfalls keine Aufschriften. Nur das Logo und den Firmennamen. Andere Klingen oder Messerkörper sind mir nicht bekannt. Alle Nieten bis auf eine sind werkseitig gefertigt und glatt. das heißt, es wurde nur ein Niet ausgetauscht und nicht der, der das Hauptblatt hält. Also ein weiteres Rätsel!


Dating J.A. Henckels Pocket Knives and Tang Stamps (https://www.iguide.net/1058_article_dating_ja_henckels_pocket_knives_and_tang_stamps.html)

 

[Arie Leib]

After reading your comments and thoughts - the domed pins seem shabby as well. Maybe it was modified and reassembled?

Theoretically, anything is possible. I bought this knife from a stranger who doesn't know much about knives. As I wrote above, the rivets are all flat and factory-made except for one, it's convex. I carefully examined the rivets that hold the main blade, they are factory-made. Now I'm at a loss. I'll try to write a letter to JA Henckels, maybe they can shed some light on this mystery.

Theoretisch ist alles möglich. Ich habe dieses Messer von einem Fremden gekauft, der sich mit Messern nicht gut auskennt. Wie ich oben schrieb, sind die Nieten alle flach und fabrikgefertigt, bis auf eine, sie ist konvex. Ich habe die Nieten, die die Hauptklinge halten, sorgfältig untersucht – sie sind fabrikgefertigt. Jetzt bin ich ratlos. Ich werde versuchen, einen Brief an J.A. Henckels zu schreiben, vielleicht können sie etwas Licht in dieses Rätsel bringen.

 

[Allen]

While Hencklels offered many models similar to this one, I tend to agree with cut that I do not believe this knife was made by Henckels.
In all Henckels catalogs showing this type of knife, none had plastic handles.

 

[Arie Leib]

Hi, Allen
Thanks for joining
Yes, I agree, the scales are questionable. What can you say about the main blade with the stamp?

 

[Arie Leib]

Friends, unfortunately you were right..
I did a little research and found out something. I contacted Henkels with a request to clarify everything here. They answered me that they currently do not have the ability to identify old knives and recommended that I contact the Solingen Klingen Museum. Which I did. An SKM employee kindly answered me that my knife is an old fake or replica made in England or Southern Europe. For which I thank him very much. I was upset but satisfied. Another mystery solved

 

[Abu]

that my knife is an old fake or replica made in England or Southern Europe.

Anyway, it’s OLD and vintage. And probably rare as well.

Abu