Has Falcon, (of Italian manual Stiletto fame), quietly faded away?

PocketKnifeJimmy

PocketKnifeJimmy

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Aug 4, 2013
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In my collection I have a couple Falcon Stiletto lockbacks that were made in Italy. They are both in the 9" overall length catagory, (one having stag scales, while the other is in olive wood).
Anyhow, while I was perusing the bay online, I came across an offering of a NOS, 11" overall length, Falcon Stiletto lockback with Sheep's/Ram's horn. It simply caught my eye, and since I had not added any Falcon Stilettos to my collection in some years, I bit the bullet and ordered it last night.
Afterwards, I went perusing some more online to find the current status of Falcon Stiletto offerings. What I found was that many of those that had been carrying them in inventory, were either no longer selling them, or had few offerings left in stock. Also, I ran into some sites with "Discontinued by Manufacturer", which I don't know if that meant certain models, or if it means the entire Falcon Stiletto line of lockbacks.
Anyhow, it caused me to fondle the two that I own, and I do like the certain old school charm they have. They don't have the precision fit that some other brands strive to achieve, but still really seem well made and offer tell tale signs of hands on craftsmanship.
I was not able to find their website online, but that does not mean they don't have one, or that they no longer exist.

So, my question is as follows... Has Falcon been discontinued, (gone DoDo)?

Thanks in advance guys :)
 
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PocketKnifeJimmy said:
Back in the day, it was Falcon that made the knives for Kissing Cranes' line of Stilettos. Some were marked Germany, but they were still Falcon, at least in their components.
Click to expand...
I didn't know that. They were a lot better than the ones marked Italy that we saw around here. This was ca 1970.
 
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I don't know where my manners are at, my not having put up a photo of any sort, (photos making posts much more interesting).
Anyhow, here's a picture of one of my Falcon manual/lockback Stilettos. It's about 9" long overall, and has Olive Wood handle scales.
 
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Here are some pics I downloaded that the vendor had up of the 11" Falcon Stiletto I ordered last night. They are supposedly NOS, and come in their original bar coded labled bags, (that's how the two that I already own came when I had received them).
The vendor has multiples of these, so the one I receive may not be the one pictured, but will be the same specs & materials. He places the circa to be 1980's to maybe 1990's.
I will share a photo or two of it after it arrives, which should be sometime late next week.



 
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How Falcon came to be...

http://www.agacampolin.com/history.html

The following is a video of Falcon's parent company, the AGA Campolin firm, which is world renown for their Automatic Knives. This short video is pretty interesting, giving a little glimpse into their use of old school/hands on manufacturing...


At the end of the above video, they show a few website addresses for the family of companies that they own/run.
One of the web addresses is that of Falcon, ( www.falconknives.it ), but when heading to that addy, it draws a dead end, (non active, or, non existing).
So, it does appear that Falcon has gone the way of so many other cutlery firm brands, which is to say... it seems to have gone DoDo :(

I believe that AGA Campolin itself is still doing fine with their company and manufacturing of quality hand made Italian switchblades (automatics). But, if they decided on ceasing operations of Falcon, I would guess that competition from Bud-K's Chinese made Kissing Crane brand of Italian style Stilettos in manual lockback form, are simply too much to compete against.
As I had mentioned earlier in a post above, back in the day the German brand of 'Kissing Cranes' stilettos were actually made for them by the Italian Falcon firm. So, Falcon branded stiletto's biggest competition in manual stilettos was likely their own made Kissing Cranes, which was okay, since they were making them too. It was a win-win situation for AGA Campolin's Falcon division of knife making.
With Bud-K buying out the Kissing Crane trademark, and having it all made in China, the writing was likely on the wall for Falcon's manual stilettos.
It's too bad that Falcon is likely out of the game with these types of knives, but, on a positive note, AGA Campolin seems to still be doing just fine, and... The Falcon branded manual stilettos will likely have a new born collecting status, due to their now likely being in the extinct brand catagory.
I see these "Italian Stilettos", much as I see the "French Laguioles", as being very much region specific patterns. I find such pattern knives most desirable when they are actually manufactured in those regions of the world in which they are famous for :)
 
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I received my new 11" overall, Ram's Horn handle scaled, Falcon Stiletto. I'm glad to include it into my collection.

I also received another knife that I had ordered the same day, it being a Kissing Crane branded stiletto with stag handle scales. This one was also "new old stock", having been made before United Cutlery was sold to the BudK company. This one was made by Falcon in Italy for United Cutlery's Kissing Crane line. After BudK purchased United and it's Kissing Crane name brand, the stilettos went to Chinese manufacturing.

My guess is that AGA Campolin will continue offering some of what they used to brand as Falcon, but dwindle the available offerings, and just brand them as AGA Campolin.
Again, I may be wrong about their Falcon brand going DoDo, but it appears it has done just that.

These two new specimens I received yesterday are pretty cool. Not the best made knives. Not the most practical pattern. And, not the rarest knives in the world. But, imo, they are very cool nonetheless :)

Besides, my collection is what it is... Which is to say, MY collection! ;)
 
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I just saw this thread. Falcon is still around, but has not been making these stilettos for a few years now. I collected a lot of them. There are some rare 13" ones too in stag. wood and horn. Kissing Crane were made by Falcon as noted but had the long clip style blades due to a US Customs ban at that time on Bayonet blades.
 
Here's mine, in case I didn't post it earlier.
cgdyOPM.jpg

I got it from a catalogue long after junior high school.
 
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