A lot older than I thought.  From 1560 to 1570:

http://www.design-is-fine.org/post/108959819159/universal-tool-1560-70-germany-iron-case-with

From 1580, this one really astonished me:

http://www.design-is-fine.org/post/108822354954/multi-tool-1580-iron-with-etched-decorations

Moving to the 18th Century, these:

http://www.design-is-fine.org/post/111405022074/saw-sets-combination-tools-hammers-and-a-signet

got a couple other pictures that I'll post in the appropriate sections

 Very neat. Back then we had artificers and artisans who spent lots of time embellishing their work. Finding any of these would definitely increase my heart rate.

This, I think, qualifies:

http://webapps.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explorer/index.php?oid=70534

All of those are outstanding!

Quote from: PFSchaffner on August 27, 2015, 09:53:38 AM
This, I think, qualifies:

http://webapps.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explorer/index.php?oid=70534

Wow...

I guess, for as long as there have been tooks, there have been people trying to smoosh them together into one :P

But, now I'm going to have to forge myself a leatherman-like tool to take to historical reenactments and I can point at this page and say, 'they existed, see?!?' :P

Plyerman has a collection of multi tool information that includes a lot of photos.  He also has a pretty nice collection of unique multi tools. 

The 19th century until now is the golden age of multi tools. 

I find myself wondering, given the level of decoration, if these weren't "gentleman's" tools, not intended for actual use.

I'm tempted to argue that multi-tools go back farther than that...

...but I guess that would be unfair.  I mean, the really old ones don't have a corkscrew or church key, even (an omission I also note on the examples Branson posted), so how can they be multitools?

Quote from: PFSchaffner on August 27, 2015, 09:53:38 AM
This, I think, qualifies:

http://webapps.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explorer/index.php?oid=70534

Wow!  Roman!  Quite the piece!

the human hand is the oldest tool, and it could do many task.