Scott

here is the information about the letter $30 to start
http://www.ruanaknives.com/authenticity.aspx

You could email them a photo and see if they want you to send the knife. The guys at the Ruana shop are easy to deal with.
You can certainly get a better assessment if they can actually handle the knife.

Please keep us up to date if you can, you have a really cool old knife

Peter