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I remember his knives being priced at four times what I would ever be willing to pay.

But he had some nice knives.

I seem to remember a series of 14cm picklocks Oreste made just before he died.

Around that same time I contracted with his nephew (I think) for a series of twelve 16cm swivel bolsters in twelve different colors -- from dark horn, light horn and stag to green, orange and purple. It's a cool set.

I collect 16cm switchblades and was very fortunate to find a vintage 16cm swinger a few years ago.

It has a beautiful stag scale on the back and -- oddly -- a shaved stag scale on the front.

The very first knife I acquired for my 16cm switchblade collection (excluding the 16cm switchblade my mom bought me in Milan in 1969) was a Wandy I found on eBay about 20 years ago. I guess it at 1965-1970. Stainless swivel bolsters, black horn scales and flat grind blade. Blade stamp looks like thi...

I have a 16cm B.V.&F. that's almost an exact twin. It also has the large-sized stamp. I bought it off the old BladeAuction site 4-5 years ago. I think I shelled out about $275 for it. The B.V.&F. (Beltrame Vittorio & Figli) lineage and origin is explained here. https://www.frankbeltrame.com/who-we-a...

Is anyone else having trouble selling knives?... The main thing that is going on (my opinion) that nobody has mentioned is the simple law of Supply and Demand. There has been a big re-awareness and resurgence in popularity of switchblade knives over the past several years, fueled in part by several...

It struck me as odd, even back in the '70s, that these knives had "Milano" stamped on them, yet "Estileto" is Spanish, not Italian. Last time I was in Milan, everybody was speaking Italian... I have one of the medium sized, made in Japan versions. But unlike most Rizzutos, the blade sits real deep i...

Ok i may be wrong, but is this the plain black plastic handled one you're looking for? Says it's 6.25" which is technically 15.875 cm .. Only 50 bucks, no left nut removal required.. http://www.sharperdeals.net/auctiondetails.php?itemname=Vintage-mint-614-J-INOX-stiletto&id=3885 Well, technically y...

Here's a somewhat low quality photo of my collection of modern 16cm (my favorite size) stilettos. Though I managed to get the odd or rare (in this size) purple and orange scales, I cannot for the life of me find a 16cm stiletto with plain black plastic scales, which would make the collection complet...

I probably shouldn't be too suprised that a somewhat rough 23cm flat guard Latama (eBay item number: 300113731999) got 17 bids and sold for $455.99. What suprised me was a 33cm Mauro Mario manual-opener picklock (eBay item number: 110129420740) that got 36 bids and sold for $760.00. Maybe the picklo...

Razor Sharp; You may be right, I may be wrong. My only source of information came from an auction on the old BladeAuction site. The knife was being sold/described by (I think) Laura Veroli, but that was a long time ago, so it might have been someone else. Anyway, this is the description, which I sav...

Thanks for the info! The magnet idea was brilliant, and it worked like a charm. Now I know what is NS and what is stainless on ALL my knives.

I actually talked to Oreste diBon's nephew while these were in planning and production (I bought a 12cm transitional from him in an auction). There are 12 stag and 24 horn 12cm "Mauro Mario" stamped picklocks currently available. The rest of the batch (they're trying to make 60 total) are supposed t...

Nice knife! I have a 20cm stag "B" that I bought in Italy 20 years ago, and an 18cm and 16cm I bought at auction recently. The "B" knives were supposedly made by Vittorio Beltrame, father of Frank and Armando. On mine, on all three sizes, the top front (swiveling) bolster is stainless steel and unli...

I'm beginning to have a fairly large collection of 12/14/16/18cm picklocks and transitional era stilettos. Some of the earlier transitional knives are pretty high quality -- tight construction, flawless finish, fat backsprings, etc. What I can't figure out is... how to tell if the bolsters are nicke...