Warther Museum opens new exhibit honoring master carver’s late grandson
DOVER (WJER) (Sept. 5, 2023) – There’s a whole new collection of family knives through the decades now on display at the Ernest “Mooney” Warther Museum & Gardens. 
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held recently for the Dale E. Warther Tribute Exhibit, named for the late grandson of Mooney who passed away in 2010.
Dale’s sister and Museum President Carol Warther Moreland says the exhibit incorporates a story by Dale about his grandfather, starting when Mooney was five, telling the history of the knives and showing their progression through the years.
She says part of the exhibit features more than 30 of the 1,100 commando knives that Mooney started making by request for soldiers during World War II.
Moreland says work on the exhibit started in January as the idea of her daughter, Museum Director Kristen Harmon.
Several of Dale’s family members who shared some of his personal knives for the exhibit also were in attendance to celebrate its opening.
The collection includes more than 100 knives in all by four Warther generations spanning more than a century.
The exhibit occupies a room about 50-by-50 feet in size that had been the viewing area for the old knife shop before it moved across the street.
It is located next to the event center that opened in 2020 and is now the last stop on museum tours.
