GUN FALL 2017
The live portion of this session begins on Tuesday, October 31, 2017.
VERY RARE SCAGEL HAND AX WITH SHEATH.Rare Scagel hand ax, 14" overall with integral head & handle. Head is 4-1/4" long, 1/2" thick, tapered to sharp edge and 3-11/16" across the cutting edge. Hand guard is 1/4" thick brass, elliptical shape with fluted top edge. Handle is stacked leather with synthetic red material, aluminum & copper spacers with a crown stag pommel secured with 2 brass pins. Left side of the handle is hand-stamped "OTTO L. HANKINSON. TOLEDO", who is the consignor's grandfather. Left side of the head has the partially visible "W. Scagel" mark a light strike with a clear "W Scagel / Handmade" / "USA" stamp. Right side of the head is marked with Mr. Scagel's trademark Kris stamp and two other unknown stamps. Accompanied by a custom, tooled brown leather head cover marked on the back with a cartouche "S.D. MYERS / EL PASO, TEX.". Front of the cover is deeply tooled with foliate & floral patterns and a fine pearled background. This ax was given a full page, #178, in color in the book Scagel Handmade, Lucie with the caption crediting the Douglass H. Sandrock collection.
William Scagel was the great grand daddy of American custom knife makers in the modern era. He was born February 1875 in Ontario, Canada and in 1900 immigrated to the United States. In 1917 he opened his shop in Muskegon, MI where he worked in metal & cutlery and in the 1936-1937 period began his knife-making career and died in 1963. Mr. Scagel's knives have been the inspiration for numerous custom knife-makers ever since. He produced knives from the tiniest bird & fish knife to the giant camp knives, along with axes & folding knives. He also produced numerous other articles such as copper-ware skillets, pots & pans. He even made corkscrews. His knives rarely come to market. SIZE: PROVENANCE: Douglass H. Sandrock collection. CONDITION: Very fine to extremely fine. Sharp edge shows light stone scratches from sharpening with some fine pitting on right side of the head and back edge of the head, otherwise the head & handle retain about 95% bright orig polish. Handle is equally fine with a couple of small dings, showing light wear to the leather & stag. Sheath has a small mouse chew at the back edge of the flap with a small break in the body of the cover at the back edge, otherwise is sound with numerous nicks & scratches and retains about 80% orig brown finish. Altogether an extremely rare set. 52579-3 JRL (15,000-20,000)