Posted 7 years ago
cwilder
(1 item)
This knife belonged to my father. I was wondering how old it is, and if "Boan" is the company that made it. I can't find anything about Boan knives online. Overall length is 9". The leather sheath is made of thick leather and appears well-made. The blade is very shiny, sort of like polished stainless steel maybe. The metal pieces down the handle look like copper that were brass plated at one time. Thanks for any information.
Not a bad looking knife; and that "copper" is probably brass as well, with a slow, hard tarnish having developed.
Since the Second World War very many "custom" knife makers have come along, mostly working alone, and producing from dozens to thousands of knives each. The number of makers really started to swell in the 1960's and exploded in the 1970's. Your knife appears to be from that '70s-'80's period but, of course, most knives look a lot alike so it's hard to really pin it down. Also as the skill of a maker changes through his career the appearance of his work changes as well. Your knife appears to have been made by someone with skill. He knew how to make a decent-looking, probably completely functional knife, but he wasn't a top-tier maker by any means. The vast majority of these artists fade into obscurity after they quit or retire or die, and the value of their work plummets. Only the work of the most rarified makers, the ones who successfully transition into mass production or earn a world-wide reputation, is sought after and commands prices in the multi-hundreds and above. I have a list of nearly 2000 known makers from the 20th century and only a fraction are names that even a knife enthusiast will recognize; and Boan isn't on it.
Thanks for the information!
Nice knife, and I really like the looks of the sheath with it. Made for each other! :^) Very lucky to have them.