Big collection of USSR prison knife

This is a forum for discussion on automatic an switchblade knives.

Moderator: The Motley Crew

Forum rules
There are a few things you should know before posting in these forums. If you are a new user, please click here and read carefully. Thanks a lot!
TazmanTom
Posts: 403
Joined: Sun Sep 07, 2014 3:49 pm
Location: Florida

Re: Big collection of USSR prison knife

Post by TazmanTom »

Thanks gentlemen, she's doing pretty good for almost seven... lol
AnticMen
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2021 11:22 am

Re: Big collection of USSR prison knife

Post by AnticMen »

Hello everybody. New interesting knife
Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
User avatar
Peiper
Posts: 237
Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2020 4:30 am
Location: Georgia

Re: Big collection of USSR prison knife

Post by Peiper »

I have been to Moscow, Russia as a tourist (Long flight). My tour guide and translator was "Vadim". We are friends on Facebook. We were messaging about knives and this is what he told me. Now I am a little confused. "AnticMen" can you explain what he is talking about in Russia?
Attachments
Vadim P.png
Vadim P.png (81.45 KiB) Viewed 2494 times
sammy the blade
Posts: 4023
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2016 7:18 pm
Location: Indiana

Re: Big collection of USSR prison knife

Post by sammy the blade »

Same way here. I've gifted knives before and friends gave me a nickel because giving knives away was bad luck to the gifter. I should have kept the knife!
2024 candidate for president
User avatar
whippersnapper
Posts: 8354
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 12:39 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Big collection of USSR prison knife

Post by whippersnapper »

Must be why my luck sucks...lol
button_man
Posts: 632
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2019 2:08 pm

Re: Big collection of USSR prison knife

Post by button_man »

.

This refers to a very old European custom that says that when a knife is received as a gift, the recipient of
the knife should then give a SILVER coin to the other person; otherwise the bond of friendship could be severed.
button_man
Posts: 632
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2019 2:08 pm

Re: Big collection of USSR prison knife

Post by button_man »

I should add that this custom reflects the belief in folklore of the extremely potent energies possessed by both knives (and swords) and silver.

You can't slide by with a measly nickel, either...... it has to be genuine silver. Of course, you could always use a "war nickel" (1942 to 1945) which
contains 35% silver ( 0.0563 troy ounces Ag) -- this is probably the least expensive, most easily available silver coin that would fit the requirement.
AnticMen
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2021 11:22 am

Re: Big collection of USSR prison knife

Post by AnticMen »

some more interesting but broken knives
Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
AnticMen
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2021 11:22 am

Re: Big collection of USSR prison knife

Post by AnticMen »

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
Fishtail Picklock
Posts: 2207
Joined: Sat May 03, 2003 11:10 pm
Location: Forest Grove, OR

Re: Big collection of USSR prison knife

Post by Fishtail Picklock »

Crude, yet fascinating!
Fishtail Picklock
User avatar
NorthCarolinaDude
Posts: 213
Joined: Thu May 13, 2021 2:22 am
Location: The South

Re: Big collection of USSR prison knife

Post by NorthCarolinaDude »

Most definitely interesting collectibles, and the ones above are what I'd expect to see in a "prison knife" but I've also seen a few that scream high-end custom and are built and priced accordingly. A couple months back I think I saw a few on GunBroker. I hadn't heard of them until I read an article about them in SkillSet some time ago. I agree that many out there now are more of a specialty market. If you search on "Russian Prison Knife" on eBay you can find some cats selling examples and you can often find identical looking models. I'm sure you can tell the more authentic examples simply by not seeing a group of identical knives being offered such as the eBay guy. Whatever they are, and however they came to be, they still beat the brakes off of Russian Nesting Dolls! :D Although I must confess I have a cool set of those in the Rolling Stones, includes Brian Jones, I picked up in England somewhere. Peace.
TazmanTom
Posts: 403
Joined: Sun Sep 07, 2014 3:49 pm
Location: Florida

Re: Big collection of USSR prison knife

Post by TazmanTom »

The only exact duplicate I've ever seen is a small scale release ., of all things... about 3" open. Saw the duplicate on Ebay yesterday for twice what I paid for this one, good deal.
Attachments
20211114_110125.jpg
20211114_110125.jpg (466.77 KiB) Viewed 2103 times
leisuresuitbruce
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2019 12:56 pm

Re: Big collection of USSR prison knife

Post by leisuresuitbruce »

I've fallen in love with these knives as they are handmade. I finally gotten a contact in Cherkassy, Ukraine who sells on ebay. She says "The master's name is Alexander, he served time in prison for many years, where he learned how to make knives and now continues to make them, having already taken the path of an honest life." I am trying to tease out more info and have offered to pay for some pics of him and his workshop and tools. Don't know if she would be willing to do that.

Another poster made the point that I have learned from other sources that prisons had industries and prisoners have to work.

Let's see if my pics come thru.
Bruce

Image

What am I doing wrong folks? I removed the leading and trailing square braces to display what I am doing. The imgur pics are public.
img]https://imgur.com/PfQiOa4[/img
User avatar
Killgar
Posts: 297
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2021 6:52 am

Re: Big collection of USSR prison knife

Post by Killgar »

leisuresuitbruce wrote: Tue Mar 07, 2023 9:54 pm I've fallen in love with these knives as they are handmade. I finally gotten a contact in Cherkassy, Ukraine who sells on ebay. She says "The master's name is Alexander, he served time in prison for many years, where he learned how to make knives and now continues to make them, having already taken the path of an honest life." I am trying to tease out more info and have offered to pay for some pics of him and his workshop and tools. Don't know if she would be willing to do that.

Another poster made the point that I have learned from other sources that prisons had industries and prisoners have to work.

Let's see if my pics come thru.
Bruce

Image

What am I doing wrong folks? I removed the leading and trailing square braces to display what I am doing. The imgur pics are public.
img]https://imgur.com/PfQiOa4[/img
You need to leave the front and end brackets in before and after img. You also need .jpg between the 4 and the [

Post the BBCode exactly as imgur has assigned it to the picture.

leisuresuitbruce's pic

Image
Avatar- Ti-Lite Auto Conversion. Video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q79nia-_DzU

My youtube knife channel- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjSYCK ... 3s5HNcsL5A
Post Reply