Hen & Rooster Knives

Made in 1980 and Before

Bertram, the maker of the original Hen & Rooster knives, was founded in 1865 and quickly became the finest knife made in Solingen, Germany. In fact, the knives made between 1865 and 1980 in the tiny factory with 14 employees when I purchased the company, remain the finest traditional, production, pocketknives that I know of. The blades are better ground, better finished, and the insides of the knives are so clean they appear to have been mirror finished inside as well as outside.

I bought this company, on the verge of bankruptcy in 1975 and managed to keep it alive for five years, turning out some of the finest knives of the past 100 years. I insisted on thicker liners, always nickel silver, the finest handle materials, and the finest possible workmanship. You cannot compare this 25-30 year old work with that done after the courts dissolved the little company and took the trademark away from us. Robert Klaas was never more than second rate, and even the work now being done by the best company in Solingen is not on a par with these knives made in the best years of this great trademark.

Original C Bertram & Sons, Solingen Germany

These were made for the American market . The blades are stamped Germany, those made for Europe were just stamped Solingen.

Hen & Rooster Model 607

An Even End pattern gentleman's pocketknife with a choice of stainless, cattle horn or mother-of-pearl handle scales.

Little Brother Barlow - .219 Zipper

In the 1970s, the Knife Collector's Club™ and Bertram GMBR, the tiny maker of Hen & Rooster knives, issued some of the finest pocketknives ever made, beginning with the CM-4 in 1974, the year before we saved the tiny company from bankruptcy, and ending with the CM-9 in 1980, the year we lost it to bankruptcy.

A. G. Russell Hen & Rooster Baby Barlow

There were only 1,800 CM-4's with Ivory scales made. Of the Model 104, there were to be 1,000 sets produced, each containing five different handle materials. Unfortunately, there were only 200-300 of the 104 Pearl and 400 of the Cattle Horn knives finished before the bankruptcy. The entire 1,000 were produced in each of the three handle materials on this page. In the twenty years since we lost the Bertram (Hen & Rooster) Firm, most of the Model 104 knives have been sold.

Hen & Rooster Model 273

The Gentleman's Congress pattern pocketknife with two blades, model 273, measures 3-3/8" closed with a 1-7/8" spey blade and a 1-1/2" pen blade. Nickel silver bolsters and liners and a choice of four handle materials. Mother-of-Pearl, African Cattle Horn, Coral Rucarta™ and Ivory Rucarta™.

Hen & Rooster Model 107 (101)

We called this "The Vest Pocket Skinner" because it measures only 3-1/2" closed and the hollow ground blade is ground like a fine straight razor. This blade is not meant to cut cane or to whittle on oak.

A. G. Russell .300 Savage Canoe Knives

Limited Quantities

If you are not familiar with the original Hen & Rooster knives, you will be surprised at the high quality of craftsmanship and materials in these knives. The only thing being made today that will compare is handmade knives being made by the best of the world's handmade knifemakers.

Hen & Rooster .300 Savage Canoe - 1979

This all stainless CANOE was the last knife made by the little Bertram factory which produced the finest pocketknives in the world from the mid 1800s until 1980, when the doors closed, never to re-open. These knives have set on our shelves since 1979.

44 Magnum Wharncliffe Whittler Excelsior Grade, serial numbers 26-300.

The .44 Magnum Whittler, released in 1975, is one of only two knives made for the Knife Collector's Club™ by Hen & Rooster and marked A. G. Russell. The other was the CM-4 Baby Barlow. All other KCC knives made by Hen & Rooster were marked with the hen and rooster on the mark side of the main blade and Bertram on the reverse.