Advice on vintage carving knives

L

Lupine1976

Joined
Dec 18, 2019
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My parents home was burgled last year. Amongst the items stolen was a vintage carving set. Couldn't tell you a brand or age, only that it had stag handles and I believe it was a wedding gift to my parents who have been married 50+ years. The absence of the knives was noted at Thanksgiving and served as a reminder of the violation of my aging parents' home.

I'd like to replace the carving set with something that we can start forming new memories with. Something to fill the space of the missing set. I would prefer to purchase something vintage with stag handles. I have ZERO knowledge on the subject of knives and cutlery. I'm here looking for advice on names/manufacturer's that I should seek out on ebay. Advice on a maker that represents affordable quality for under $200 (that could be laughable to those in the know, I have no idea). Looking for a knife, fork and hone. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
Good Morning,

Sorry to hear about your folks' being burgled. That's awful. The good news, in my experience, is that vintage stag carving sets are readily available and really don't command very much money at all. There just doesn't seem to be much of a market for them. A 50 cent hardware store barlow knife can be worth north of $500, while a lovely old carving set can be had for $20 in some cases. Incidentally, I'm a big fan of old barlow knives, but I like the carving sets too.

You'll find sets primarily from Germany, Sheffield, and the US. I'm partial to the American sets, but I'm sure some of the European ones are nice as well. I personally have an LF&C (Landers, Frary, and Clark - an old Connecticut marque) set and a Putnam Cutlery (another old CT company) carver. I did a cursory look of the bay just now and saw a lot of stuff - e.g. a really nice Remington set probably from the early 30s for $15. It's hard to recommend a specific brand since there's a lot of good stuff out there. Given the market, you really shouldn't have to spend more than $50 or so. Also, look at the sets carefully - some of them have delrin/composite handles that are made to look like stag. They can be quite well done, but if you're after real stag just make sure that's what you're buying.

Hope that helps a little.

Best of luck,
John
 
Would it be something like this that you're after ?

The unused high quality vintage carving set in the pictures below was made by the no longer existing Solingen based firm of Anton Wingen Jr. and the Dutch seller is asking 120 Euro (roughly 133 US dollars) for it, which includes shipping within the Netherlands.
This is something i would personally buy if i were in the market for such a vintage carving set.

BTW: i'm not in any way affiliated with the seller or his offer, but if what you see comes close to the one your parents lost in the burglary i would be happy to assist you in obtaining it.
Shipping such a set from the Netherlands to the US would be around 35 US dollars.





 
You can find cased vintage carving sets in your price range on eBay, most will be “England” or “Sheffield” marked.
 
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