They seem to match Austrian taschenfeitel knives. Were these imported and used in the USA? I can't find blades anything like that in archaeological reports, etc.
Chris Immel, I think it was, brought that issue up here some years back, and I think his conclusion was that they were a reenactorism. Since then I can't say that I've ever seen a dug example nor run across a period reference, but then I haven't really been looking for them...A quick run through what material I have available recently failed to turn up anything, even in the miscellaneous blades section of Fort Loudoun, which has an otherwise quite diverse group of blade shapes. At the very least it should be considered an open question that needs some research.
I note that different areas in Europe seem to have quite distinct regional styles in folding knives (compare English, French, and Spanish) and the English and French both had robust cutlery industries. It thus entirely possible that penny knives were quite popular in central Europe but no one ever imported them into North America, since neither the English nor the French used them and didn't need to look outside their own nation to supply their needs.
