Posted 7 years ago
jextranet
(1 item)
I bought this at a rummage sale in Winnetka Illinois, This was was interesting to me because I collect knives mostly bench made types, but the friend I was with said this was antique and sterling silver and I just want to know more about it and if someone has any idea of the value it would be nice. The only information I believe is through my research that links this directly to Harry Voigt who competed in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin in the 400 Meter relay and won the Bronze Medal, the USA Won the Gold with Jesse Owens on the team. How I believe it came into my hands was through Ralph Metcalfe who was also on the team with Jesse Owens and somehow he ended up with this from his German competitor.
It would be Karlsbad.
:-))))
I lived and worked in Illinois There were many Germans who lived in Illinois. There were more than 130,000 living there by 1860. This folding fork/corkscrew is typical of items made/used during the Civil War period.
Not Sterling silver, I'm afraid. The handle is bone, the rivets and top piece on the handle are pewter and the fork tines/cork screw are made of a steel based metal, as they are rusty.
There were many Germans with the name "H. Voigt" from Karlsbad. It's likely that one of them brought this knife along when migrating to Illinois. I cannot find any camping items made by H. Voigt in Karlsbad, so that leads me to believe that this was a personal item.
There is no provenance/tangible proof that this item belonged to Harry Voigt. Harry Voigt was born in Berlin, and would not have a reason to have his first initial, last name and Karlsbad printed on a folding fork.
The mark is struck, not engraved, one does not make expensive punches to struck the name of the owner. So, it was the maker in Karlsbad, Bohemia. There are all sorts of Karlsbad souvenirs, including pocket knives, being famous spa in Austria-Hungary.
Here is some background on Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary) Bohemia:
http://www.karlovy-vary.cz/en/about-karlovy-vary/past-and-present
History of Karlsbad (Baden) Germany:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karlsbad_(Baden)