Photos Vintage Swedish Emil Olssen pocketknife

[kwackster]

Fredrick Emil Olsson founded his firm in 1896 in Eskilstuna, Sweden (the cutlery capital of Scandinavia).
His was one of over 100 cutlery companies in Eskilstuna at the turn of the century.
The firm produced hundreds of thousands of knives until it closed it's doors in 1967.
One of it's specialties was deep etching, and this new old stock pocket knife is a nice example.

 

[screened porch]

Nice. I have a similar one, but with a broken blade.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Incredible detail in the etching. How old is this one? Looks like it's brand new!

 

[kwackster]

I don't know exactly how old this knife is, but it is indeed brand new old stock.
Also have it's twin brother in the exact same condition, but with a bit different etching as it's an advertizing knife for the still existing Swedish company Elof Hansson.
Will post a few pics of that one later.

 

[Bigfattyt]

Really neat pattern. That etching makes it doubly a pocket gem...

 

[Stelth]

That is interesting. But, "magnet"? Is that blade magnetized and if so, why?

 

[Un-Chained]

Beautiful example, thanks for sharing.

 

[cbach8tw]

Really nice etching.

 

[kwackster]

That is interesting. But, "magnet"? Is that blade magnetized and if so, why?

Yes, the screwdriver is magnetized.
This can be a very useful feature with for instance small screws for glasses which you don't want to lose.

 

[kwackster]

The second Emil Olssen knife with the advertizing:



Swedens national coat of arms, and the company name:



Picture of the Elof Hansson headquarters building in 1958 next to the etching of that same building on the knife handle.
Thanks to this picture i now have an estimate of when these knives were made.