Maker
Heinrich Kaufmann & Söhne
Solingen exporter, creator of the Mercator “Black Cat” knife.
- City
- Solingen
- Rarity
- 3/5 · Scarce
- Est. production
- 8,000
- Founded
- 1856
- Trademark
- Mercator; K55K
- In the book
- Pages 117–119
- SA Group stamps
- No, Nrh, Ns, Wm
- Types
- Early
In 1856 Heinrich Kaufmann founded his cutlery company in Solingen, later renamed Heinrich Kaufmann & Söhne – India-Werke, mainly exporting steel goods to the East and West Indies. In 1867 he introduced the Mercator knife (Mercator is the Latin form of Kaufmann, “merchant”), which became very popular as a pocket knife in the 1920s. Many of his lock-blade knives contained a corkscrew, can-opener and awl and were marked “Mercator” or “K55K”. The firm registered with the Solingen Chamber of Commerce in September 1928 and made cutlery, pen and pocket knives, razors, scissors, tableware and surgical instruments. In World War I it made S98/05 bayonet blade blanks.
