Knife Collecting

This summer we took some time away from our busy schedule to do something that is truly close to our hearts—a road trip through some of America's most historic knife-making towns.

While attending the Blade Show this past May in Knoxville, Tennessee, I had the pleasure of talking with John Burrell. John, along with Brad Lockwood, organizes the Village of Knives Show in Little Valley, New York. As John shared stories about the area's rich cutlery history, it didn't take long before he convinced us that we needed to experience it for ourselves.

The Western Knife Company, C. Platts & Sons Cutlery, Cattaraugus and W. R. Case and Sons, what do these knife companies all have in common?

So in order to understand what these four companies all have in common, we have to go back to the very beginning of their stories. So lets begin in 1864 when Charles W. Platts emigrated from Sheffield England to America. Charles having come from a long line of knife makers back in England followed this same path when arriving in America.

I was recently asked what does the acronym or abbreviation NKCA stand for on knives. Really great question! So I thought I would make a great topic for this months blog.

NKCA stands for National Knife collectors Association. This association began in 1972 when a group of collectors, working at knife shows in Kentucky and Tennessee, began to realize there was a growing number of knife enthusiasts and collectors. They decided to band together and form a club that would expand this growing trend from a hobby into what they hoped would be a profitable business.

One of our passions here at Hers and His Treasures is collecting US made knives. This month we are featuring one of our favorite companies W.R. Case & Sons. So here is little background history.

This companies roots go back to 1889 when the Case brothers William Russell, Jean, John and Andrew Case began selling cutlery from the back of a wagon in small New York villages.