Jim Taylor Passed away This Morning

CNoyes

CNoyes

Joined
May 30, 2009
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I received an E-mail from Cindy Taylor this morning notifying me of the death of her husband, Jim. Jim was a native of Sheffield, England, a knowledgible knife collector and dealer and was a fount of good knife information and always willingly shared it with others.

Apparently, Jim and Cindy had been dealing with a terminal illness for some time. He died at their home in Florida.
 
Sorry to hear, my condolences to Jim's family and friends.
 
Cougar, yep, that would be the one. Damn, I liked Jim, crusty old bastid that he was! :(
 
He contributed a great deal to Bernard Levine's Knife Collecting & Identification forum. I posted a link there to let people know. We're going to miss him.... :(
 
I'm very sorry to hear this, I've had a handful of dealings with the Taylor's over the years, and Jim and his wife were some of the rare folks in the antique cutlery business that were/are always exceedingly honest about the knives they sold, even down to the small details that many pass by. Jim also brought with him a knowledge of the Sheffield cutlery industry & knives in general that is seldom seen today.

He'll be gravely missed.
 
I've known Jim and Cindy for about 20 years as they virtually ran the Northeast Cutlery Collectors Asso for many years. Jim often wore his trademark old bowler hat to our shows. Maybe one of the most knowedgable guys in the knife trade for Sheffield cutlery and a real gent to boot. My condolences to Cindy.
FB in Vt.
Bill Gardyne
 
I did not know him or have dealings with him, however anyone that makes a positive contribution to our hobby, which appears to be the case here, will be missed by many, even those of us that did not know him. My condolences to the family.
 
tmayberry50 said:
I did not know him or have dealings with him, however anyone that makes a positive contribution to our hobby, which appears to be the case here, will be missed by many, even those of us that did not know him. My condolences to the family.
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This. RIP Sir.
 
Man.......shocking news:(
I liked Sebago
He was VERY knowledgeable about knives and knife history

Condolences to his family:(
His presence will be missed...............
 
I am so sorry to hear this news. I also have known Jim & Cindy for almost 20 years. My condolences to the family. Barry Wolder
 
I also am very sorry to hear of Jim's passing, his welcoming smile and wealth of knowledge will be missed. My condolences to Cindy, his family and friends.

I was very green when I first met him and I am sure my questions were ones he had answered many times, still he always treated me with friendly dignity and respect.
 
tmayberry50 said:
I did not know him or have dealings with him, however anyone that makes a positive contribution to our hobby, which appears to be the case here, will be missed by many, even those of us that did not know him. My condolences to the family.
Click to expand...

Well put. Condolences to the family.
 
I was very sad to hear of Jim's passing a couple of days ago, he'd suffered his terminal illness with stoicism and great bravery.

As many of you guys know Jim, alongside Cindy, was a full time professional knife dealer in the US for over twenty years, some of the knives they handled were quite spellbinding, amazing !!. A great writer, Jim wrote countless articles for the various US knife publications, he often drew on his deep knowledge of all things Sheffield to fascinate and inspire.

A dear friend who will be greatly missed, my thoughts are with his dear wife Cindy and family.

Mick
 
Cougar, thanks so much for creating this thread. I searched the forum definitions several times for the proper place to post the news of Jim's passing.
I appreciate all the positive responses and also to know that the folks at BritishBlades are almost certainly aware if Wellington is.
I had another E-mail from Cindy today. She seems a little better. She wants us all to celebrate Jim's life, not mourn his passing.
I have been talking with, communicating and buying knives from Cindy and Jim since 1988. I haven't seen much of them since they retired to Florida and virtually stopped attending knife shows. I'm really going to miss Jim Taylor, his bowler hat and that quaint sense of British humour.
God Rest You Merry, Gentleman Jim.
 
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I feel deeply embarrased to not know of Jims Passing, although I did read this a week or so ago, as Cindy sent me a e-mail, as she was going through Jims contacts etc, as Jim and I wrote for a while to each other.

I just have to say that I am sorry that Jim has passed away.
I have just written to Cindy just a moment ago, and told her the first time I heard from Jim is when I bought my first Whittler, now I am new to knives, and at this stage I was extremely new, and when I saw the split wedge design of the springs I was intrigued and put the old ratty knife up saying wow look blah blah blah.
A few people very politely went with me, obviously knowing that it wasnt anything special, and were being gentle on it, well...not Jim, he came in and shot me down by saying its nothing special etc...lol :)
I didnt take offence to this, but I did want to know if this guy was being a bit of a dork....so I contacted him and asked a few questions about the knife....
I learnt Immediately that Jim was a bloody nice guy, and we exchange a few e-mails, and then he asked for my address, I knew he was up to something, but didnt want any gift-as its very embarrassing-as you guys must know being here in this great place.
He insisted, well...... I have the envelope here in front of me now, and I cant believe just how special these mean to me now( not that they didnt before )
He sent me these very old knife labels in absolute brand new condition ( some over a hundred years old )I have quite a few, and 4 in an envelope with Jims most very tidy old styled handwriting, it says ...

" Duncan
I have always considered the enclosed labels to be "the Rolls Royce" of all cutlery box labels.
I would date the set to be C.1900, or so.
Jim."

I thanked him very much, as I was most blown away by Jims gesture, we wrote a couple of more times, but he told me he was very ill, and I asked him a few things, and he replied there was no help for him - but he did this so in such a brave, and Gentlemanly manner.
We talked a wee bit after that, and the conversation dropped down a bit.
I didnt contact him for some time, I knew he must have been getting sicker, but I couldnt , or to be honest, I wasnt brave enough to, I was very scared of invading his precious time-Im sorry if this sounds silly, Im very ashamed of this.
Im sorry Jim is gone, but Im not sorry he came into my thread to what I thought was abruptly, because I had a chance to exchange conversation with a Gentleman.
 
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