This archive includes two skinning knives published in M.H. Cole's The Skinning Knife Book, along with a pair of scabbards made by Cole and marked by him for the knives, several original pieces of artwork for the production of the book, manuscript rough copies and edits and preliminary artwork for the cover of the book. A final published copy of the book is included as well. The primary items are:
1) An unmarked "Butcher-Skinning" knife pictured and described on page 116 of Cole's The Skinning Knife Book along with the Cole made and marked tacked and fringed leather scabbard. The knife has a 8.5" curved, single-edged trailing point butcher-style blade that is 1" wide at the choil and 1.1875" at the widest point near the tip. The knife has an overall length of 12.5" and a 4.125" hilt. The grip is oval in cross section with cocobolo wood for the grip and poured pewter for the bolster and pommel cap. The tacked and fringed leather scabbard is marked by its maker M.H. COLE / 1985 on the rear of the belt hanger.
2) The original 14"x17" pencil drawn artwork for page 116 in The Skinning Knife Book by MH Cole, drawn on light card stock with a matte finish, that depicts the above knife and scabbard.
3) An unmarked "Butcher-Skinning" knife pictured and described on page 138 The Skinning Knife Book along with the Cole made and marked tacked and fringed leather scabbard. Cole attributes the knife to the Northhampton Cutlery Company of Massachusetts which was established in 1863 and was still in business when Cole wrote this book in 1996. The knife has an 8.125" single-edged slightly curved clip point blade that is 1.125" wide at the ricasso and 1.25" wide at the widest point. The knife has an overall length of 13.5" and a 5.5" hilt. The knife has a full-tang design with pinned cocobolo wood scales and a pewter bolster. The tacked and fringed leather scabbard is marked by its maker M.H. COLE and ROEBUCK / WKS / 80 on the rear of the belt hanger.
4) The original 14"x17" pencil drawn artwork for page 138 in The Skinning Knife Book by MH Cole, drawn on light card stock with a matte finish, that depicts the above knife and scabbard.
5) Two additional pieces of original 14"x17" pencil drawn artwork for pages 64 and 120 of The Skinning Knife Book by MH Cole, drawn on light card stock with a matte finish.
6) Two more additional pieces of original 11"x14.25"pencil drawn artwork for pages 19 and 109 of The Skinning Knife Book by MH Cole, drawn on a heavy matte finish paper similar to construction paper.
7) A rough and incomplete pencil sketch entitled "Run of the Buffalo" that has a mock up of an 1870s style logo that reads "Buffalo Hunters Tools" and depicts Russell knives with a reference to "Traps & Tools of the Mountain page 213".
8) An original ink drawn mock up of the actual cover art for The Skinning Knife Book (not the dust jacket) on a piece of salmon colored heavy paper that measures 11x14 and is numbered "3" in the upper right corner. The art is pasted to a piece of cardboard that has a been taped to another piece of cardboard with a blank piece of the same paper pasted to it to form a folder in which Cole apparently kept notes and related items for this book project.
9) Large format 11"x14" copies of pages 63, 115 and 119 of The Skinning Knife Book, apparently used during the editing and assembly process.
10) A large number of photocopies of research and pages from The Skinning Knife Book some with Cole's hand written notes, initial text rough drafts, edits, etc. Some are copies that simply show those notes. These provide a window into the process of Cole producing his final book.
11) A photo copied loose paper mock up of The Skinning Knife Book which Cole has gone through and redesigned page numbers from the original intended publication order. Also includes a handwritten note on the rear indicating that the photo of the author should be updated. Most of the pages appear to be present but the page numbering is inconsistent, so it is not completely clear if any are missing.
12) A published copy of The Skinning Knife Book by MH Cole.
Overall an important and one of a kind opportunity to own original MH Cole art along with two of the pictured knives and an archive of material related to the publication of The Skinning Knife Book. The contents of both lots of Cole knives, drawings and paperwork were obtained directly from MH Cole's widow after Howard passed away. They were sold to the consignor by John R Gibson in 2008 and Mr. Gibson's original letter of authenticity discussing the objects in the archive is included with this lot.