3591 TWO SKINNING KNIVES.

Category Firearms & Military
Auction Currency USD
Start Price 100.00 USD
Estimated at 200.00 - 300.00 USD
BOTH: Pictured and described on page 195 in "THE FUR TRADE". Author, Milton Von Damm. CONDITION: good to very good. "SKINNING KNIVES. The Rocky Mountain fur trade for beaver was winding down by 1840, the year of the last Rendezvous. American knife manufacturing began to emerge and dominate the demand for trade knives by trappers and traders remaining on the frontier, by the active trapping still being conducted in Canada, by Indians receiving payments for being displaced, and by the continuation of the Indians' harvest of buffalo to trade hides and skins. Lamson and Goodnow dominated the trade knife market between 1844 and 1865 and English knives were also seriously challenged by John Russell & Co. The emergence of the blade shape known as the skinning knife coincided with an increase in buffalo hunting. It has been described as a butcher knife with a sharp upward curve. One skinning knife has a 6" blade and is 10 1/2 inches long. It is marked J. Russell & Co. over a diamond design. The reference to Green River dates the knife to the post mountain man period and only became popular with the publication of George Ruxton's novel, "Life in the Far West". The wooden handle is in two pieces and the blade tang follows the length of the handle". Second knife "was made by Landers, Frary and Clark and is marked UNIVERSAL USA. The blade is 5 1/2" and the knife is 10 inches in length." PROVENANCE: Lifelong Collection of author Milton Von Damm. (02-22239-2/JS). $200-300.