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

[wellington]

Mick,
That's a fine collection W. Mills & Son knives. An earlier era's fine craftsmanship made up until the 80s.
Here's my only Mill's knife, made circa 1960.

Joe

Pleased you like the Mills knives willgoy, Steve & Joe, cheers.

Thats an excellent two bladed(PS. S456)example Joe, nice quality, lovely pearl, guessing the blades have butter smooth walk and talk ?. I like it very much.

Mick

 

[wellington]

A sweet little fruit knife :barf: , guessing made C1920s-30s, stainless blade, carbon backspring, fine ivory scales, brass liners, butter smooth walk and talk, quality, marked W LANDELL, 106 TRODGATE, GLASGOW. Surely Mills made...?.

Here are a couple of my favourite Mills knives, both marked W MILLS & SON, SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND.

The t/shell penknife has wonderful t/shell scales over gold leaf, gold tips and gold washed fileworked backspring, amazing walk and talk, a super thing.

The gold coffin penknife again has impeccable build quality and has the same styled gold washed fileworked backspring.

Thanks for looking..Mick

 

[KnifeHead]

It's almost shocking how perfectly new those knives look. Thank you, Mick, for sharing images of these wonderful knives.

 

[wagglebee]

Mick, I love that tortoise shell, it is amazing!

 

[wellington]

Delighted you like those two penknives Kerry & Rob :thumbup:.

I'll just add a picture of two more, of similar quality, likely made by Mills for the firm of JOSEPH RODGERS & SONS, SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND (CUTLERS TO HIS MAJESTY) 3 1/4" C 1930s ?, stainless blades, these very high quality penknives have superb quality pearl scales, carved around the edges, laid over gold leaf, milled brass liners, the backsprings have burnished gold covered snakeback filework, unused.

Thanks for looking...Mick

 

[Will Power]

Staggeringly thin these Pens, the workmanship speaks for itself.

 

[Yaro5]

Mick, another pair of absolute corkers. Why do you think they were made by Mills if they have the Rodgers mark?

Joe

 

[wellington]

Mick, another pair of absolute corkers. Why do you think they were made by Mills if they have the Rodgers mark?

Joe

Hi Joe,

Very good question, an educated guess really, I know Willis and Ernest did out work for Rodgers, I've also got an absolutely identical knife, marked W Mills and Son.

Here's a pic, the Mills knife's on the right, closed.

Mick

 

[waynorth]

Mick, all those lovely knives are a sight for sore eyes!
It's nice to see them after a hard day's work!
(Even though it's usually only half a day!)
Thank you for posting/sharing them!

 

[wellington]

Thanks for the enthusiastic comments Charlie...

I seem to be on a bit of a roll, posting Mills stuff, so here are one or two more..

A pair of high quality W MILLS & SON, SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND ivory scaled 3 1/4" penknives, milled brass liners, gold covered snake back file work and as always the blades have butter smooth walk and talk.

The worked backsprings of the above knives can be clearly seen, I think this gold covered filework was perhaps a Mills specialty ?. The closed knife is a Mills six piece lobster.

.

The Mills 3 3/8" six piece lobster is shown alongside a three piece version, the scales are man made and "hafted half round", perhaps made just after WW2 when materials were in short supply, both knives are bench made but have a custom knife quality feel, the six piece is beautifully put together. Note how all the blades/articles have small square kicks, these were often used on small knives, especially lobsters because they were easy to get at when setting the knives in points prior to final assembly.

Thanks for looking ...Mick

 

[Yaro5]

Pure quality Mick.
I have to agree with Charlie, they are definitely a sight for sore eyes.
Again, thanks for sharing some of your wonderful collection of Sheffield cutlery with the members of this forum.

Joe

 

[wagglebee]

Those are beautiful penknives Mick!

 

[sebago]

It might interest the members of this forum to consider how the quality of the knives that Mick posts, has started (VERY slightly) to deteriorate, We are now getting into the post WWII era.

Handles are now "man made" and not ivory. The blades are stamped out and not hand forged etc.

For comparison, may I ask you to go back and see the Wostenholm lobster pattern on page 9, post 161. Here is a virtually same size knife, but in ivory and with hand forged blades. I don't know about you, but I see tantalising differences in the fit and finish, as well as the overall appearance.

I'll take the Wostenholm every time!

This is NOT to demean Mick's knives in the slightest. He knows as well as I do that changes happened for MANY reasons in Sheffield and are still happening today. I merely wished the members to see the differences.

Go back even further and the differences are even more compelling. The Victorian knives that Mick has shown are quite stunning. The custom makers of today struggle mightily to just equal what the Sheffielder's did as a matter of course, on everything!

No question about it, that was Sheffield's, "Greatest Hour."

Jim Taylor.

 

[Campbellclanman]

All I can say is that...if Mick led me blindfolded to his collection and said pick one....Im pretty sure I'd wet myself in anticipation of the fine knife I would have
Mick...can I say that its almost criminal as to how awesome your knives are...PLEASE, PLEASE keep this going.

 

[rprocter]

This thread has certainly opened my eyes to the unprecented skill of the Shieffield workers of past times. I'd like to show some of my vintage Sheffield knives although none even approach the quality that we readers are now expecting. I will appreciate a few comments (not praise) to help place these more 'average' knives in time. My appologies for any that might be too recent to belong here.

3 3/16" Mappin & Webb sterling Gent's Whittler hallmarked 1907 (IIRC)

3 1/4" Mappin & Webb Sleeveboard Pen with unusual jigging. No "England" so may be pre 1891.

3" Wostenholm 4 blade Pearl Equal End Pen. I don't know if this one is a "Golden Ager", but still shows fine craftmanship.

3 1/16" Wostenholm 4 blade Equal End Pen. the handles are not marked as such but appear gold filled to my eye.

i am unsure of age of this one as well.
Were handles containing gold always marked as such ?
these pics do not show color perfectly.
Is the monogram "ALP" ? if so, these were my father's initials.
hope i have not upset too many with these less amazing offerings.
roland

 

[wellington]

Hi Roland,

Thanks for adding pictures of your four fine old knives to this thread :thumbup: .

The Mappin and Webb 3 3/16" whittler looks a really good example, unsharpened, nicely marked, the four part hallmark date letter looks like an r ?, if so I think thats 1909.

The Mappin and Webb sleeveboard, looks OK, not sure about it's age.

The 3" pearl Wostenholm, certainly looks a "Golden Ager" been cleaned up a little, but nonetheless an attractive example.

Your 3 1/16" Wostenholm looks like a skeleton knife, the modified liners, backspring, polished blades etc assembled, the pocket blade end pin and balance pin riveted up, a special tubular rivet made and used at the pen blade end, flanged gold outer coverings applied, the tabs bent over inside either end into pre made grooves, the shackle fitted, it's pin going through the tubular rivet, very clever. A nice quality knife.

Mick

 

[tomcrx]

OK...OK with all those beautiful ivory pens...I am now officially jealous

Thanks for the enthusiastic comments Charlie...

I seem to be on a bit of a roll, posting Mills stuff, so here are one or two more..

A pair of high quality W MILLS & SON, SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND ivory scaled 3 1/4" penknives, milled brass liners, gold covered snake back file work and as always the blades have butter smooth walk and talk.

The worked backsprings of the above knives can be clearly seen, I think this gold covered filework was perhaps a Mills specialty ?. The closed knife is a Mills six piece lobster.

.

The Mills 3 3/8" six piece lobster is shown alongside a three piece version, the scales are man made and "hafted half round", perhaps made just after WW2 when materials were in short supply, both knives are bench made but have a custom knife quality feel, the six piece is beautifully put together. Note how all the blades/articles have small square kicks, these were often used on small knives, especially lobsters because they were easy to get at when setting the knives in points prior to final assembly.

Thanks for looking ...Mick

 

[Campbellclanman]

Roland,
Dont knock those knives, I too agree that the pearl I*XL has been cleaned, but not excessively....still very nice.
Now that jigged bone on the Sheffield is pretty cool...in fact its Damned cool, I know that everyone strives for Mint...but I for one realy appreciate looking at knives like this, that STILL are great!!
Thanks for putting them up for us to share!! :thumbup:

Mick... the breakdown on that Wostenholm, wt? ...... how did you just do that???

 

[wellington]

Mick... the breakdown on that Wostenholm, wt? ...... how did you just do that???

Hi Duncan, I'm merely repeating what others FAR more knowledgeable than I have told me in the past.

Skeleton knives are quite interesting, I know Wostenholm's produced many carcasses, the large US jewelery retailers bought those in quantity fitting them with fine quality gold and silver coverings.

Those old Sheffield cutlers had many clever ways of making and fitting things together, to make and fit those hollow tubes that the shackle/pen blade end pin went through for instance, a cutler would get a long piece of thin iron wire then wrap a thin strip of brass sheet around it, heating and tapping, molding it, the cutler would then warm then draw the brass covered iron wire through a series of diminishing sized holes (a wortle plate) until he had the desired guage, a pin been then cut to length. The brass over iron pin would then be used to secure the penblade and backspring spring under tension, the iron core then tapped out, this was the made up carcass. The outer covering would then be applied using tabs, the shackle was fitted using a pin going through the hollow wire.

Mick

 

[Yaro5]

Just posted these on the "Old Pocket Knife Boxes" thread. Thought they would be appropriate to post here due to the above discussion.
Here are three out of a possible six I*XL skeleton knives with original box. Circa 1910

Joe