Imperial Fisherman's Toothpick Pocket Knife, Cracked Ice Celluloid with Fish Shield, Providence Rhode Island, c. 1942–1955

The Piece

A slim two-blade fishing knife in the toothpick pattern — long, narrow, and gently curved, with a spear-point main blade and a hook disgorger and scaler blade opening from the opposite end. The scales are cracked ice celluloid, a swirled cream and pearl imitation that catches light like the real thing, set between polished steel bolsters. Inset in the front scale is a small die-struck fish shield, scales and fins picked out in relief — the maker's signal that this knife had a job. The tang carries the Imperial mark and, on the reverse, the patent numbers 2170537 and 2281782.

History & Provenance

Imperial began with two brothers from Frosolone in the Italian Molise. Felix and Michael Mirando emigrated to Providence, Rhode Island in 1916 to be near its jewelry industry, where they began making skeletons for pocket-watch chain knives; with their friend Domenic Fazzano as manager they founded the Imperial Knife Company, which grew to become the largest knife manufacturer in the United States.

Their advantage was a method. Rather than milling solid frames, Imperial stamped handles from sheet and wrapped them — the construction protected by the two patents stamped on this blade, issued in 1939 and 1942. That let the company put a real working knife into a hardware store for the price of a sandwich, and it is why so many American men of the mid-century carried one. This particular pattern was made for a purpose: the second blade scales fish and frees a swallowed hook, and the fish shield told a buyer at a glance what the knife was for. It went in a tackle box, not a display case.

Product Details

Why It Belongs in Your Home

There is a particular pleasure in an object made for one job and shaped entirely by it. This knife scales a fish, frees a hook, and cuts a line, and every line of it — the narrow curve, the twin ends, the little fish on the handle — follows from that. It came out of a Providence factory built by two immigrant brothers and it went into a tackle box that smelled of cedar and old line. Small enough for a jacket pocket, handsome enough for a shelf, and cheap enough that you can simply enjoy owning it.

Condition Notes

Grey patina and scattered dark pitting to both blades, consistent with carbon steel and use around water. Cracked ice celluloid scales sound with no cracks, shrinkage, or lifting; light yellowing and small surface marks consistent with age. Both blades open and close on a firm spring. Steel bolsters with light scratching. Sharpened during working life; not factory edge.

Care note for the listing: store this knife loose and dry, not sealed in a bag or a box with other knives. Celluloid outgasses as it ages, and the vapor will corrode blades — including neighboring ones. Present scales are stable, but the material rewards air.