Victorinox Tourist 1940's

I found this one on Ebay in a lot of three vintage knives. Two of them, sadly the oldest ones, had damaged tools. The Tourist had a broken tip on both the main and the small blade. Beneath this text you can see how I managed to grind away the broken edge. People often get discouraged when they see a knife with small defects, but if you're handy, you can fix almost everything. If you forget about the blade tips, this knife looks actually pretty good for something over 60 years old. I love the exposed rivets and the older type reamer. I have no idea why they changed the exposed rivets, because this is to mho the most beautiful design ever! The liners and even small spacer at the small blade are made of aluminum. I believe they did this due to the fact that in the 1940's all the copper was used for the WW2 weapons-industry. The rather rare can-opener, used from 1946 to 1951, makes this a real collectable knife!

BEFORE

AFTER

Age - marks :

* Cellidor scales : These scales were introduced in 1937. Before 1937 the scales were made from fibre, and had no mirror polish. This knife has cellidor scales!

* Can opener : This type can opener is the second oldest one and wasn't used for a long time. This type was used from 1946 to 1951 and the small time window makes this a rather rare and collectable knife.

* REAMER : This older type reamer was used till 1961 and a very distinctive age-mark for any Victorinox.

* Small blade : The small blade has a clip point. These blades were used till 1973.

* Cap lifter : The cap lifter, here used, without the wire stripper and with longer flathead screwdriver was used from 1942 to 1951.
* Blade stamp : The main blade stamp says ARMEE SUISSE. On the back it says VICTORIA with the crossbow in the middle. These stamps were used from the early thirties (1932) till 1948. 

Conclusion :

When I look at all the tools, materials and stampings, this knife should be made arround mid 40's. The can opener and cap lifter are the two tools with the smallest time window, from 1946 to 1951. The blade stamp narrows it down to 1948. The knife should be made from 1946 till 1948, which makes this a pretty accurate time window for such an old item...