Kenton's knife?

On this web page there is a picture of a powder horn and knife claimed to have belonged to Simon Kenton.
http://frontierfolk.org/k-images.htm

Is it just me or does the knife appear to be a folding knife? What initially caught my attention is the metal shield on the handle scale.

It sure looks like a folding. Could be a wide thick tang, seems unlikely...but? I hit a bunch of L&C museums across the trail. I think it was at point Disapointment that they had a folding knife that was found under Clarks house, museum did not claim it was clarks or carriered on the expedition.
Folders go back to before the first white went over the mountains, so Kenton could have used the knife on thE frontier Also while it could be Kentons knife it could have been bought long after statehood. So it could have been Kenton at sixty not Kenton at twenty.

Just an opinion, but that folder looks like a later design than of Kentons time. Maybe not, but To me it looks too late for him.

Kenton died in 1836, so it could have been a knife acquired as late as 1836 and still be truthfully "his" knife.

I went to Urbana Ohio to visit his grave site once. I asked a cemetery worker where he was buried and was told where to find a grave with a statue of "a guy with a shotgun and his dog". I sighed and left him alone while I visited with Simon.

This is a point many forget...just because some notable person owned an item, doesn't mean they owned it their whole life. Saw a lot of that in the antique trade. Just cause grandma owned it, it's not automatically 100 years old.

I'd also hve to agree that it's later than the 1830's. I'd believe found under his house but without being able to see a maker's markings I'd pass on it being his. Granted Solingen and Sheffield did begin making folding "pocket knives" by the 1830's but this is a later design type.

Too bad there isn't a better close up image. It looks like a stag scale. There were not many folders made in North America pre-1840 so it would likely be from Sheffield and I'm not certain how common stag was as a scale material.
What about the powder horn? If it was genuine shouldn't there be rust marks around the nails/tacks bleeding into the horn?

I believe it to be a much later made knife. The horn could have been one of his,pretty good shape!
Nit Wit

crockett said:

...and I'm not certain how common stag was as a scale material..

Click to expand...

Stag was mentioned pretty frequently in 18th-century ads.

"The Pennsylvania Gazette
June 11, 1741
Just Imported from London and Glasgow, And to be Sold by John Barkley, at the Sign of the Bible in Second Street, Philadelphia. ”¦ Cutlery ware, wool sheers, capp'd and stag horn pen knives, with white ivory and several other sorts ditto,"

"The Pennsylvania Gazette
February 11, 1762
Imported in the last Vessels from England,”¦ carving and table knives with silver and ivory handles, &c. buck and stag do. ebony and horn do. cocoa and bone do. "

"The Pennsylvania Gazette
June 4, 1761
To be SOLD by JOHN HUGHES,.....brass kettles of most sizes, tomahawks with pipes, ditto with spikes, buck and stag table knives and forks, bone ditto, cutteau knives, burnt bone ditto"

Some penknives were folders, of course.

"The South Carolina Gazette
August 23, 1773
BRIAN CAPE, Has just imported in the ship Palas, Captain Turner”¦ Fleams; Pocket Knives, ”¦. Pen Knives, with 1, 2 and 4 Blades, Trade Knives and Forks;"

Spence

It's definitely a folder - when I enlarge the pic, I can easily see the blade's hinge pin, and the recess in the handle to accept the folded blade.

The blade appears to be well worn from repeated re-sharpening.

Thanks Spence, you saved me some serious digging! :wink: :haha:

Stag has been used for knife handles for centuries. It's just in this case that the knife in question is of a more modern design criteria!

That knife sure does look to be a folder, I'd guess from the design it to be around 1840 to 1850s though. The horn is interesting, I wish I could both items closer. I've been to Urbana to visit his grave, and to where his last home was in new Jerusalem...an interesting tidbit for anyone interested...Simon Kentons last home was a small one room log cabin and was purchased by the Shawnee Indian tribe that also owns zanes caverns and the local campground that is situated on the same ground.They transported his cabin to the campgrounds and display it...if I get a chance I'll take the 20 mile trip and take some photos of it. Who knows if it's really Kentons or not... They claim it is.

Looks like a Schatt & Morgan Cutlery Co. Knife
That would be to new. Started 1890ish.
Nice knife still.

William Alexander

looks like a barlow