Another Scagel

[hammerdownnow]

Usually these things are few and far between on ebay. Altho it does seem that if one item does good at auction, it inspires others to list similar pieces. Maybe this will be a trend to get a few of these knives out into circulation. This one seems not to have spent a lot of time as a drawer queen. If they could only talk, ehh? first time i ever heard of the VL&A stamp.
ebay item (click here)

[hammerdownnow]

(correction) Not the first time I've "heard" of the VL&A stamp. It is the first time I have seen it.

[Buddy Thomason]

There is something compelling about an old knife that's seen lots and lots of use. If there is a 'classic' Scagel look, this is surely it!
The blade looks to have been aggressively 'sharpened' - more like 'ground down.' Upon seeing it I remembered finding my dad's fixed blade knife from WWII (sorry, don't remember the make - and it eventually disappeared somewhere along the way), taking it secretly to the basement and (gag!!!!), securing the handle in a vise and using a disc sander to 'sharpen' it. I feel horrible every time I think of that piece of stupidity, even though it was long ago and I was only a small boy. It simply made my father sick! Definitely one of those things in my life I would like to 'do over' and do differently if only I could.
Anyway, here's what the VL&A stamp looks like. This image is NOT from the eBay knife above. Also please disregard the 'copyright' statement. Any picture I post on the internet is for anybody who wants it.



VL&A stands for Von Lengerke & Antoine, a Chicago outfitter that had not only a store, but a mail-order catalog business too. They were eventually bought out by Abercrombie & Fitch of New York (1929). Scagel sold knives through VL&A until (and this was not atypical for 'Old Bill') they asked him to lower his prices and he got p_s_ed off at them! So much so that he demanded they return all un-sold stock to him. Since he never wasted anything, the unfinished blades in his shop already stamped VL&A were re-cycled slowly over time, which is why there are a few interesting items out there with that stamp which were made well after VL&A went away. These few knives (those that are known) were mostly made into custom ordered 'fighter' knives for men heading out to the various WWII theatres.

This will be another interesting auction to follow. I notice that the unsuccessful bidder in the other Scagel knife eBay auction this week, "Yogi", is in on this one too. Though not in good condition, someone will get a nice old Scagel user that is at least not UGLY like the last one!

[hammerdownnow]

Thanks Buddy, I did not know VL&A and A&F merged like that.

[Buddy Thomason]

The winning bid was $8,610.00!