Posted 9 years ago
whyatt
(63 items)
although anton wingens jr. aided in the production of many cutlers in the Solingen area. the Othello was his personal makers mark. this has some age to it, probably mid to late 50s would be my guess.
its a real sturdy knife with a thicker blade than most 9 inchers have. the 4 brass pins holding the scales are super tight. really well constructed.
it was made for export to the coast cutlery Portland Oregon knife company. very popular company. which brings to my mind, why import from Germany if the americans had knives of equal quality ? its a very solid argument for the expert quality that Othello had continued to provide world wide. his knives still demand a good premium even today. some one really scuffed it up on an attempt to sharpen it, so I got it at my price. gonna shiner up some pretty soon and bring it back to life.
"..... why import from Germany if the American had knives of equal quality?"
Back in the '50s, Germany was still undergoing reconstruction of its cities, after their devastating loss in WWII, less than 15 years before. Wages in Germany were far below that of Americans back then, so it was cheaper to import knives made in Germany and other European countries, as well as from Japan, which allied itself with Germany and also lost the war. Ultimately, it's all about the all mighty green buck and not so much about quality or workmanship. [;>)
this knife might be pre wwii Nevada. the sheath is original . its thick, but nothing fancy. well made just like the knife. I believe, even though , I edited stag knife, its actually a bone handled knife.
anton wingens was manufacturing knives long before 1900. if this knife pre dates wwii, then that wage theory is shot down.. the germans were the super power of the world and the americans were still in the great depression. which lasted till 1939. the war was the sole provider that sent our country into a working frenzy.
id bet , most americans were on the brink of starvation. the germans were in excellent physical condition and very weathy. low wages this does not accomplish.
fact is, there weren't enough jobs, be it cutlers or any thing else to supply the demand from large companies like coast cutlery. americans had plenty of cheap imperials , hammer brands, and a few others. the quality sucked comparatively.
there were a few good cutlers, boker, case,and marbles, just to name a few, but like you said, labor was cheap... oh, youre referring to the germans. my bad. but it also applied to the U.S.
the germans DID produce as a whole, far better and far more knives.
this post might strike a few nerves, but it was what it was.
richest country on earth vs 1 of the poorest. there wasn't even a good comparison.
what a turn around 10 yrs made. what you say is true... after the war, but
the germans were exporting, not just perhaps this knife, but 1000s of others long before it began.
we can only speculate why . but 1 things fer sure. coast cutlery did like these knives for whatever reason or reasons. I like it too. and its not because of the price tag.
thank you all for the love fellas.
for the sake of argument. it is a post war knife. I used the phrase might've been pre wwii for a comparison only. and did a lil research supporting this dating.