Coles knives - Germany and New York

[PaulDWeiss]

Hello, all. After my mom died, I inherited some of her batterie de cuisine, including some German-made Coles knives. They are etched with the words "Coles N.Y. Germany Stainless," and have traditional 3-rivet handles, with solid wood scales. (The wood is not laminated nor resin-soaked; I'd guess they're black-dyed beech, but I don't really know.) I remember them from when I still lived at home, which dates them to the late 1950s or the first half of the 60s. I've got a terrific French-styled (not German-styled) 10" chef's, a salmon slicer, a straight boning knife, and a slicing knife. (I also have a 6" hunting knife, made by the same company, with a handle of stacked leather washers, which I got at a garage sale in the early 70s. Strangely enough, the hunter has a carbon-steel blade, rather than stainless. It's much cruder than the kitchen knives, but the maker's mark is the same.)

I've done a bit of searching to see if I could learn something about the company, without success. Does anyone know any of the company's history, or might have a URL which I could look at? Thanks in advance,

Paul

[Dakki]

Try asking Bernard Levine at bladeforums.