Knife Experts Needed

[villival]

I found this yesterday. The ends appear to be copper. The material the knife is made of is something I have never seen. It looks like some kind of an animal shell that resembles finger prints.

The knife itself is about 3 and one half inches long. It looks really old, but I don't know anything about knives.

Can anyone tell me the approximate age and the type of material that is used to decorate the knife?

I'll be happy to answer any questions. If you enlarge the photos, you can clearly see the unusual pattern.

 

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[Tony in SC]

I can't tell anything about detail but the shape reminds me of the old Imperial knives.

 

[thursdaythunder]

I dug about a dozen old pocket knives in the past. I've never had any luck trying to identify make or model... Except for one Scharade I found which was clearly marked.
if anyone has any links to any pocket knife identification I'd love to see it

 

[ToddsPoint]

The double curved shape says Imperial. Could be other Imperial copies as well. Gary

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Like everyone else here, I too have dug a few pocketknives over the years.
Unless they have a distinctive shape or blade length they're pretty near impossible to identify.

I cleaned and brightened up you pic to get a better look at your knife.
Hard to tell what the material is on the outside, but it looks man-made, possibly Bakelite.
Date wise, it looks to be 'relatively modern', probably from the early 1900s.

Dave

 

[villival]

You all are amazing! That would be about the same time frame, as the home site is a little over 100 years old and I found my first silver there; mercs from the 30's and 20's!

Thanks so much!