Boker Solingen Germany Alemania Pocket Knife

[Citizen John]

I have been buying the old Bokers of my youth. and the latest has "Alemania" on it and after a search read where it might have been for the Spanish market and that "Alemania" is Spanish for "all men". Is that the story or did Boker have other ideas in mind ? This is a three blade folder showing lots of use which is fine by me. It will get more as an EDC Squirrel Skinner etc. It will share its' duties with other old Bokers, LOL. My new Bokers are just two nice to use, ha. All company information would be appreciated.
After more research I found the following which is interesting. The Germans evidently love their history.
"The answer is actually geographical. Spanish, just like French, and Portuguese, among others, are romantic languages. This means, by consequence, that they have their roots on Roman Latin. Now, going back to the roman empire; Romans used a lot of words to describe the German tribes across time, and even some to describe the whole Germanic territory. Notably, during about the time of some of the roman expansions to what is now Spain and France (around the birth of the roman empire), they used the word "Alamania" to refer to broadly the germanic territory, solely because the Alemanni was the tribe that occupied territory closer to the Empire, and had the most contact with it, and that's the reason why "Alemania" and its variants are used to refer to Germany in Romantic Languages.
So there you go ! The collection of knives is itself a 'labor of love', we study the faint writing and become intrigued with old knives and some will pay scandalous dollars for them due to some obscure proof mark etc. It goes way beyond the utility of the piece......

 

[Bastler]

 

[RevolverGuy]

I own a few of these Boker's tang stamped Alemania. I believe another valid reason may have been because of the company's expansion into South America. The Casa de Boker started out in the early 1900s in Mexico (still in it's location) and Boker eventually moved production further south and set up shop in Argentina where they are currently known as Boker-Arbolito (also a Spanish word meaning "tree" or "little tree".) The company's history is hard to trace. There are a lot of gaps and missing pieces to the story that sort of make collecting Boker's all the more fun.

 

[cbach8tw]

I would like to know more about Boker USA and how they got started or history. I have a four bladed Congress in jigged bone/maybe plastic and pinched bolsters, I believe it is from the 50s or 60s. It belonged to one of my wife's grandfathers. The other one is a Boker, Solingen three blade stockman in red bone, from her other grandfather, he picked it up at a local hardware store in 90s before it went out of business after decades of business. So both have sentimental reasons for me, I never met my grandfathers so I was privileged to know hers for awhile.

 

[GIRLYmann]

i don't have a boker with "alemania"
stamped on it.
but i do have a carl schlieper with it;
and some consider an "alemania"
tang stamp to be rare due to the short
period in which it was in use.
the story goes that it came about during
the post war years in the 50's and for
a few short years it was a way of
marketing a german brand for export
without having to upset the sensibilities
of post-war customers that it was a
german product..
it was disused by the 60's
btw, the boker's "alemania" tang markings have been discussed elsewhere...
https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_forum/viewtopic.php?t=10469

 

[RevolverGuy]

I would like to know more about Boker USA and how they got started or history. I have a four bladed Congress in jigged bone/maybe plastic and pinched bolsters, I believe it is from the 50s or 60s.

You can read a short version of Boker's history on their website here: https://www.bokerusa.com/about-us

Their history has always fascinated me. It makes for tracking down history all the more fun when collecting these knives. Boker USA had started in New York in 1837 as H. Boker & Co. They were mainly an importer for their German made knives. Boker bought The Valley Forge Cutlery Company and moved production to Newark, New Jersey. Then in 1926 they built their own factory in Hilton, New Jersey. That town later changed the name to Maplewood. Most of the Boker USA knives we know of today were manufactured there. Wiss & Sons bought them out in 1970. Then the Cooper Tool Group bought them out in 1977. Also Boker bought out Schrade (George Schrade Knife Company) in 1956, but that plant was short lived and closed in 1958. So if you ever see a Schrade/Boker stamped knife they are pretty rare. Boker's US manufacturing ended in 1983.

By the way both of your knives are really nice. I would say the 2nd one which looks to be a Boker USA is definitely bone handle and probably pre-1955 due to the shield used and the pinched bolsters. Later ones from the 1960s went to delrin handles.

 

[SmallkJACk]

I have been buying the old Bokers of my youth. and the latest has "Alemania" on it and after a search read where it might have been for the Spanish market and that "Alemania" is Spanish for "all men". Is that the story or did Boker have other ideas in mind ? This is a three blade folder showing lots of use which is fine by me. It will get more as an EDC Squirrel Skinner etc. It will share its' duties with other old Bokers, LOL. My new Bokers are just two nice to use, ha. All company information would be appreciated.
After more research I found the following which is interesting. The Germans evidently love their history.
"The answer is actually geographical. Spanish, just like French, and Portuguese, among others, are romantic languages. This means, by consequence, that they have their roots on Roman Latin. Now, going back to the roman empire; Romans used a lot of words to describe the German tribes across time, and even some to describe the whole Germanic territory. Notably, during about the time of some of the roman expansions to what is now Spain and France (around the birth of the roman empire), they used the word "Alamania" to refer to broadly the germanic territory, solely because the Alemanni was the tribe that occupied territory closer to the Empire, and had the most contact with it, and that's the reason why "Alemania" and its variants are used to refer to Germany in Romantic Languages.
So there you go ! The collection of knives is itself a 'labor of love', we study the faint writing and become intrigued with old knives and some will pay scandalous dollars for them due to some obscure proof mark etc. It goes way beyond the utility of the piece......

I believe Alemania is Spanish for Germany. Right next door in France, it's Allemangne. If that interpretation is correct, that would suggest that those specific Alemania knives were manufactured for the spanish market on a short run. The knives likely kept being sold to Spain, without the Alemania stamp. I've also read that Alemania may have refered to a specific German tribe that used to occupy parts of Scandinavia. Who really knows. History is a mystery.