"Made in Sheffield" 1830-1930, A golden age ?

glennbad said:
Here's an interesting find I just acquired. After chatting with Eric, he agreed that they are likely "skeletons" that are shipped out to jewelry stores and the like, for them to put fancy covers on. See how the springs are proud of the outer liners and the blades sit up proud too. The knives are fully functional (and sharp). One set is a whittler pattern, the other is a 4-blader.

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Now what to do with them...do I give them new liners and scales, or leave them as-is for historical value and curiosity?
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Fascinating Glenn, nice find :thumbsup:

Like Wostenholm, I'd call that a 3-blade Penknife :thumbsup:
 
glennbad said:
Now what to do with them...do I give them new liners and scales, or leave them as-is for historical value and curiosity?
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I'd say whatever makes you, the owner, happy -- as long as its respectful to the knives. Me personally, I'd probably at least give one or two new liners and scales, while making sure to keep a few of each pattern as they are. You know, the "have your cake and eat it too" type of thing.
 
glennbad said:
Here's an interesting find I just acquired. After chatting with Eric, he agreed that they are likely "skeletons" that are shipped out to jewelry stores and the like, for them to put fancy covers on. See how the springs are proud of the outer liners and the blades sit up proud too. The knives are fully functional (and sharp). One set is a whittler pattern, the other is a 4-blader.

View attachment 2585724
View attachment 2585722
View attachment 2585723




Now what to do with them...do I give them new liners and scales, or leave them as-is for historical value and curiosity?
Click to expand...
Bring them to life with a nice cover
 
Ed, "Heritage of English Knives" is a wonderful book, and it's certainly too bad that David Hayden-Wright passed away before his book was finished.
I followed the auction of his knives in real time and can tell you that many of those knives ended up in the United States. He did have some amazing examples.

Rufus1949, nice group of pruning models. Pruners have really gained in popularity over the past decade.

glennbad, neat to see that group of "skeleton" knives. I would certainly suggest to leave at least one packet alone for future studies.

galvanic1882, wonderful selection of old Rodgers knives. Hard to argue that they weren't the best of all time.

Charlie, fantastic Rodgers Lamb Foot models. The best of the best of the best. :)

As long as we are on a Joseph Rodgers run, here are a few more...

Rodgers Lambfoot Stag (1400x799).jpgRodgers Pearl Wharncliffe Whittler (1800x1351).jpgRodgers Shadow Horseman .jpg
 
ed_is_dead ed_is_dead A wonderful trove that salesman's sample board from Joseph Elliot. Plus, this corresponds to the era that this thread is addressed to 1830-1930 not subsequent decades which are of little relevance.

The prices shown in the old LSD Pounds, Shillings, and Pence system whereby a Pound was dividided in 240 pennies abbreviated as d. (from the Latin denarius) 12 of these pennies d. made a Shilling and 20 Shillings made a Pound. Complicated, bizarre? Rather. Then it was decimalized at last in 1971, but moves were started to reform /decimalize the currency in early Victorian times with the introduction in 1849 of the Florin (called the Godless Florin as it did not have 'dei gratia' on it...) a 2 Shilling coin that was one tenth of a Pound, but as usual in Britain, prevarication rotted in.

Prices were shown on these cards by the Shilling and as these are high grade expensive knives they would likely be per dozen. What's significant here is the variation in prices between the handle materials, no lowly Wood or Bone here either! Stag seems the cheapest 36 Shillings 1.8 GBP so about 3 Shillings a knife, provided this is per dozen and not EACH (unlikely) Ivory examples 71 Shillings just under 6 Shillings each MOP examples are next at around 91 Shillings or 7.5 Shillings (7/6d) But Tortoiseshell appears to be generally the most costly scales some are 102 Shillings or 8.5 shillings each (8/6).

You say that you've found a calculator for prices/wages so that will be useful, ascertaining 'average' means per occupation is notoriously tricky. But let's assume the knife samples are from say 1890-1910 I think would be realistic, so find out average wages for that era. There was some inflation during this period but more from 1910-1914 and immensely more during the First World War (another reason leaders of all nations are so eager to agitate for war and compel their citizens to die, it makes a lot of money)

One detail I found was concerning MPs Members of Parliament (a scoundrel 'profession') In Britain in 1911 an annual basic salary was introduced for MPs set at 400 GBP per annum (it was assumed that an MP would have private means too, that hasn't really changed it's just morphed to lobbying) The average wage for 1908 was just 70 GBP per annum but this seems rather low. So the context is these knives were expensive for their era. However, if you ask most 'normal' people today what would they pay for a knife ? Not much would be the answer! Few other than knife enthusiasts would believe what a Custom knife costs say from 300-3000+ of any currency Euro, Dollar, Pounds, Swiss Franc :D:cool:

Thanks, Will
 
Nice Ol' Pruners Rufus1949 Rufus1949 - The Stag makes those Knives so sopecial.

H herder - my friend, that I*XL is stunning to say the least.

galvanic1882 galvanic1882 - Mike those Joseph Rodgers are superb- just next level!

waynorth waynorth - Charlie Sir- I just love it every time you post- once again just beautiful examples - Those two are gorgeous!

H herder - following up with a Stunning run of Rodgers - Wow!

LOVE this Thread, I hope that Mick ( W wellington ) is doing well these days!
 
Back to fixed blades -- this bowie hunter, which I've shown previously in another thread, is marked "Cambridge Cutlery Works, Sheffield, England":

pgP0TGo.jpg


I don't know much about this maker. Price and Zalesky (Official price guide to collector knives, 15th edition, 2008) simply describe it as a "maker of late 19th-century bowie-type knives," which is consistent with the word England on the ricasso. The company was previously discussed in this thread.
 
I wonder how many of those pre war sheffields got melted down to use in weapons for both wars,for how many were made and how many shops sheffield had it is hard to find them old gems,I have yet to get an old sheffield but I'm not 80 yet so lots of time lol
 
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