A Knife from Abercrombie & Fitch, 1959

[Onomea]

A few years back I purchased this knife. While the dealer I bought it from did not know the maker, and the blade is unmarked, he was selling it on behalf of a friend who had purchased it, new, in 1959 at Abercrombie & Fitch.



The original owner used it on hunting trips to Canada, and inlaid this maple leaf in the butt of the handle in commemoration:



As many of you know, A&F was, early to mid 20th century, in it’s own words, “The Greatest Sporting Goods Store in the World.” It is where luminaries like Hemmingway or Robert Ruark would go to be outfitted for safari. Its president in the late 50s, Otis L. Guernsey, remarked of his clientele, “The Abercrombie & Fitch type does not care about the cost; he wants the finest quality.”



It is a very good, well made knife, and I paid the proverbial pretty penny for it. It came without a sheath, so I asked the well known custom sheath maker Bob Schrap to make a sheath for it. While the knife was with him he asked a couple of very knowledgeable collectors if they knew who made it. They did not, but opined whoever he was he certainly knew what he was doing.



The bark on the stag handle is much deeper and fuller than on my other knives:



I still hope to learn someday who the maker is...

 

[les.b]

What a beautiful knife. Thanks for sharing with us. We can only be sad at the fate of A&F, and wish that there were once again stores like it. Perhaps Texas Star will weigh in on this...he has a wide knowlege of knives....

Best Regards, Les

 

[jlrhiner]

I'm going to guess Scagel. But I've never seen one not marked.

 

[boykinlp]

Onomea,
Your knife is beautiful. First class in every way. Thanks for sharing. I hope you will find out who the talented maker was at some point.
Larry

 

[richcory]

That just looks flat out fantastic! Love antler handle with bark.

Cory

 

[Texas Star]

What a beautiful knife. Thanks for sharing with us. We can only be sad at the fate of A&F, and wish that there were once again stores like it. Perhaps Texas Star will weigh in on this...he has a wide knowledge of knives....

Best Regards, Les

A&F had some items made for them I think, and bought others or sold them there on consignment for the makers. Both Randall and early R.W. Loveless knives were involved. This was when Loveless sold under the name of Delaware Maid. This just may be one of his products. But that's just a possibility. He had yet to develop his distinctive styles, later so widely copied.

When Robert C. Ruark published a safari article in Playboy, March,1965, a full color photo ill. suitable gear. I think the photo was taken at the Chicago store of A&F. The knife shown was Russell-Grohmann's Model 4, with sheath. That made me want one, which I later got, while writing about Grohmann knives.

I was in that store some years later, when my college journalism group attended a convention in the city. I went to A&F and delighted in seeing their wares, inc. my first personal look at Zeiss binoculars.

I was at the Dallas A&F store when they auctioned the remaining guns of Churchill, Atkin, Grant, and Lang, and covered that sale for, Guns magazine. Col. Chas. Askins was the only other gun writer present.

And when Gebruder Merkel was still in East Germany, they brought over some 40 guns, the most seen in the USA since before WW II. I covered that event, again for, Guns. It was a fascinating assignment. I speak almost no German and the company men had virtually no English. For reasons that I never understood, the PR girl accompanying the men (for the US importer) had no German! Nonetheless, we got along fine, and I got a splendid catalog that helped me to write the article and the importer later had a PR man come to Dallas to take me to dinner and better explain their offerings of Merkel guns. It was a challenging story to write, but turned out very well, I think. Some here may have read that article. Merkel and the importer furnished most of the photos.

And that, folks, is what I know about Abercrombie & Fitch. It was a crying shame when they folded and The Limited bought the name. Now, they're just a women's clothing store. The Limited enterprise also owns Victoria's Secret now.

Oh: do any of you remember the movie, Man's Favorite Sport, starring Rock Hudson and Paula Prentiss? Hudson played a fishing expert working at A&F. They were then THE foremost hunting, fishing, and expedition outfitting store. How the world has changed!

 

[ShivasIrons]

That is a beautiful knife! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Muss Muggins]

This is my guess . . .

R.W. 'Bob' Loveless, maker of exquisitely crafted sporting knives, dies at 81

 

[Ray]

I understand that AF shipped a 2nd series Colt Match Target to Mr. Hemingway , Nairobi.
I have a Guns mag covering it. As a matter of fact it´s a 1981 issue, and the Colt is pictured in the cover. Interesting, in that same year I was buying my 3rd series MT in São Paulo, Brazil.

 

[6518John]

Simply amazing

Well worth a couple of minutes!

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsEHWbs5lk4[/ame]

 

[wingriderz]

Wow very nice indeed

 

[Bakebfr480]

Very nice!

 

[Onomea]

Well worth a couple of minutes!

Wow, John! That is great! A very powerful statement by the artist. To those of us who love well made knives, that cuts right to the heart of it, doesn’t it?

 

[bulletslap]

I do remember the `Man's favorite Sport' movie, and I am a caretaker for a circa 1910 JP Sauer 98 Mauser factory sporter sold through A&F.

 

[Onomea]

Thanks for all the kind comments, and an especial thanks to Jim Rhiner, Texas Star and Muss Muggins for their willingness to hazard educated guesses as to the maker.

Jim, the dealer I bought it from also thought it might be a Scagel, but Bob Schrap, the sheath maker, told me back in 2015, “I had a chance to show your knife to a couple of very knowledgeable collectors. Between them, they have handled scores of Scagels. It was both of their opinion that it was not a Scagel. However, they both agreed that it is a good quality knife made by a maker who knew what he was doing; just too bad he did not stamp it.”

Doesn’t mean it isn’t, of course. But seems unlikely.

T-Star and Muss, I had not heard of Loveless’s Delaware Maid years. That is a very good lead. There are a couple of ways to follow up in the article Muss posted. Doing so, I found a blurry picture, posted on John Denton’s — the Loveless expert quoted in Muss’s article — site (Bob Loveless Knives) that appears to show a similar knife from Loveless’s Delaware Maid work:



I appreciate the interest and the help, fellas. If I learn more, I will continue to post about it.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Here’s an early Loveless he made for A F.
I have also seen more than handled a number of Scagels.
Don’t look like one to me either.
I find the Sheath to be as interesting as the knife.
Have never seen an America made pouch type of this quality and finished this well made this early.
Notice the Loveless sheath is plain with a brass rivet.

 

[Onomea]

Pilgrim, thanks for the comment, and for that photo.

The sheath I show was built in 2015 by Bob Schrap, a custom sheath maker. The knife did not have a sheath when I bought it.

 

[Texas Star]

I do remember the `Man's favorite Sport' movie, and I am a caretaker for a circa 1910 JP Sauer 98 Mauser factory sporter sold through A&F.

Pictures, please? Which model of Mauser sporter do you have? Oh, wait. It's a Sauer, not a direct Mauser Werke product... Of, course, J. P. Sauer is also a famous name!

I like the one they (Mauser) made to look like a London-made rifle. I think they called it the English style.

Somewhere, I have a reprint of a Mauser catalog showing their sporting rifles and their handguns.

I stumbled across a Chinese movie this week and saw them using the famed old Mauser 7.63mm pistols. Couldn't understand a word as I sort of fast forwarded through it, but those pistols stood out!

I'm glad that you recall the, Man's Favorite Sport movie and its A&F connection. Since I made that post above, I've recalled the plot better. Hudson's character wasn't really the skilled angler that he pretended to be, which lent a comic element. It was a pretty good film.

 

[Texas Star]

Pilgrim, thanks for the comment, and for that photo.

The sheath I show was built in 2015 by Bob Schrap, a custom sheath maker. The knife did not have a sheath when I bought it.

I remember writing a profile on Bob Schrap. Can't recall at this date whether it ran in, Blade, National Knife Magazine, or in, Knife World. But he probably has copies of it, if you care to read it.

You're a repeat customer, so he might run off the story for you on a copier. I'd send one, but I wrote over 5,000 published articles, and have only a relative few with me now. I just don't have the space to have kept all.

In a few minutes, I'll make a post explaining why I think your knife was probably made by Loveless. Look for that, and take excellent care of that knife, as I feel sure that you do for all your knives.

 

[Texas Star]

This is my guess . . .

R.W. 'Bob' Loveless, maker of exquisitely crafted sporting knives, dies at 81

I enjoyed the video. I noticed that his voice there sounded a little like the late publisher Hugh M. Hefner, 1926-2017.

One was from Illinois (Chicago) and the other from Ohio, so it's probably a coincidence.

Or, is it? The lovely lady whose image was Loveless's trademark in later years did look like a centerfold model...

I met Loveless just once, although we did exchange a few letters. He was at the time full of ego and (I think) maybe his preferred Maker's Mark bourbon, and he wasn't communicating well. This was at a gun show. I decided not to interview him, as he was already getting a lot of press and I thought it had gone to his head.

He was one of two custom knife makers who I decided not to interview for a profile. The other was D.E. Henry, also reputed to be a bit of a prima donna. I had been warned that Mr. Henry was a grouch and often wouldn't even let people handle the knives on his table. I found that was an understatement and soon left, vowing to never give him any coverage!

Although both makers could be abrasive and were as modest as a pair of peacocks, they did make superlative knives. They largely deserved their artistic reputations, and it's no surprise that collectors seek out their work. Mr. Henry's book on Collins machetes is the classic study of its kind, and I treasure my copy.

Once a knifemaker gets a certain amount of publicity, they tend to believe their own press and get a pronounced ego. Yes, the same can apply to writers and I try to avoid having that affect me, not that I was ever as famed a writer as Loveless was a knifemaker, LOL!

One very talented maker whose skill equaled Loveless was/is Dietmar Kressler. He hasn't had the US publicity that Loveless did, but I've seen his work and it was magnificent. At that time, he was still selling many knives to hunters, as was Loveless. He has excellent English, having been posted in the USA while a member of the postwar Luftwaffe. I found him to be very intelligent and quite cordial.

Then, the German edition of, Playboy ran a full color article on Kressler and he was suddenly a very well known maker! His prices increased (surprise, eh?) and now only wealthy collectors can buy his products.
BTW, he is probably the only maker other than Randall to have a profile in a high circulation general magazine with intense full color. A profile in, Blade reaches mostly knife enthusiasts. A profile in, Playboy reaches millions! Playboy Germany also ran a fine article on a gunsmith or two, something the US edition would avoid, due to its liberal perspective on gun control! However, I must say that I respect them for running pro-gun letters in the Forum, something that most mass circulation magazines wouldn't do.

Back when many customers really used his knives, Kressler told me that they preferred straight 154CM steel to Damascus, as the latter had varying harder and softer spots along the edge due to the many overlapping layers of the folded steel. Thus, it was more difficult to attain a uniform honed edge. And 154CM is a very good stainless steel. Most true Damascus rusts easily unless very well cared for.

Buyers who use their knives may want to bear that in mind.