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810546

French Opinel pocket knife # 7

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:25.00 USD Estimated At:50.00 - 65.00 USD
French Opinel pocket knife # 7
Opinel knife #7: 4" closed and 7.25" opened. Beechwood handle and tempered high carbon steel blade with crowned hand hallmark etching. All feature safety ring for locking the blade open or closed.This knife is brand new and has never been used or carried. This item is not a second or factory defect and is authentic. The Opinel knife was invented by Joseph Opinel in 1890 in Savoie as a simple working man's. It proved popular with the local farmers, herdsmen, and paysans-vignerons (peasant winemakers) of the area. In 1897, a series of twelve sizes, numbered 1 to 12, was developed. From 1901-1903, Joseph Opinel built his first factory in Pont de Gévoudaz and produced a machine for mass production of the knife's wooden handles.To distribute his new range of knives, Opinel utilized the time-honored method of hiring peddlers to sell the knife, installing a small shop near the Chambéry railway junction, where the knives became popular with PLM railroad workers, who in the course of their work spread word of the new knife all over France. By 1909, Opinel had registered his first trademark for the Opinel knife, choosing the main couronnée ('crowned hand") as his emblem. A few years later Opinel annual sales were in the hundreds of thousands, and by the start of World War II as many as 20 million knives had been sold.The Opinel Virobloc or safety twistlock mechanism was invented by Marcel Opinel in 1955, greatly increasing the safety and versatility of the knife by allowing the blade to be locked in the open position. In 2000, the Virobloc locking mechanism was improved to allow locking the blade in either the open or closed position.The company is still run by the Opinel family, and Opinel sells around 15 million knives annually. A museum dedicated to the Opinel knife (Le Musée de l'Opinel) is located at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.The main couronnée ("crowned hand") device as you can see on photo was already present on the blade of very early models. Later the words OPINEL and FRANCE were added, as well as INOX ("stainless", from "INOXidable", meaning "non-oxidizable) in the case of stainless steel blades.The image of the hand comes from the arms of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, and represents the relics of John the Baptist, three of whose finger-bones were supposedly brought back from Alexandria by Saint Tecla in the 5th century. The crown comes from the arms of Savoie.We ship from Texas, not from France.
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