The Mystery Knife

[sverdier]

I have a switchblade knife that was given to me in the mid-eighties. I decided to find out something about it. It is just short of 8 1/2 inches long, and is a one-sided blade. The blade itself is 3mm wide where it joins the body of the knife and tapers accordingly and is 3 1/2 inches long. Near the base of the blade it is stamped RUDOLPH, and below that ROSTFREI. It has the large blade release button, and the smaller blade lock button, which is very secure. The handle is a purple-lavender mother of pearl looking material, probably acrylic, but not sure. The little pins on the handle are brass, and the slot that the blade goes into when closed is line in brass as well. It's in good shape, and is quite heavy, and makes a nice double click when closing the blade. It has never opened accidentally when locked. I would like to know its value if possible.

[ILikeStilettos]

You need to post pictures.

[sverdier]

Ok, here goes

[sverdier]

You will have to view the pics in a new window...that works. Thanks

[ILikeStilettos]

Good sharp pictures, unfortunately very ordinary knife. Unless someone values Rudolph tang stamp, it's probably worth $50 tops, maybe as low as $15. What you have is nominally known as a 9" swedge blade pivot bolster with blue pearlex scales. These knives are still produced every day. The swedge grind is the least popular; bayonet, dagger or Kris would increase the value a little. It's about 30 years old, that means it's an old knife in good shape, as opposed to a new knife in new shape. If it were 50 or 60 years old it might have other features that would make it valuable as vintage. If you buy enough of these, you can get almost anything you want stamped on the tang. The scales are at the absolute bottom of the value scale, I can go to a flea market and get identical knives in my choice of colors.

Sorry, better luck next time.

[Viking45]

Pretty nice knife. It may not be rare but it is certainly not common. I have been around stilettos for many years and the stamp is new to me...of course I am no expert.
Maybe it's my monitor but looks like a flat grind to me.

I say she's a keeper. Thanks for sharing.

[Razor_54]

Looks like a German export and as mentioned not up there in value but still a nice knife.

[Viking45]

Looks like a German export and as mentioned not up there in value but still a nice knife.

I bet you are right about that.

(Made in Italy but for the German market)

[Razor_54]

Looks like a German export and as mentioned not up there in value but still a nice knife.

I bet you are right about that.

(Made in Italy but for the German market)

Thanks Dave. That's what I meant.

[sverdier]

Thanks a lot to all of you that responded to my post. Didn't know much about switchblades, but learned a lot from from all of you and this site.

[Viking45]

Looks like a German export and as mentioned not up there in value but still a nice knife.

I bet you are right about that.

(Made in Italy but for the German market)

Thanks Dave. That's what I meant.

Manny I know how you Canuck's can be,you are precise and meticulous but thank God I am her to clarify things.
You know I kid you brother,you have far more knowledge than myself,I only meant that for those that may not know about the German market.

If it were not for this forum I would have never known about the knives made for the German market.

[natcherly]

Maybe it's my monitor but looks like a flat grind to me.

I see it that way too. A true swedge blade needs to have, well, a swedge on the tip, like this one......

[Tom19176]

Sometimes looking at a photo as compared to holding it can make all the difference, but I see signs of it being a Twain made one. Color of pearlx, pins heads in handle and main blade pin all seem to say non Italian to me. The stamping is the block style used by the Twain imports then too as it the non swedge flat grind blade. There stress carks by the button was common on Twain ones but not so common on Italians....Either way nice older knife and values are the same as above if I am correct as there are guys out there who will pay that much for it....

[Razor_54]

Hey Dave, promise to do better next time. Maybe that's why my uncle in Massachusett calls me the crazy Canuck.
Manny