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

Thought I'd go ahead and add in the full set of the pictures from the John Blyde Exhibition Knives collection that was offered for sale a few years ago. Again - none of these are mine. :( Most of these are Greenhough made knives. They're the only ones I've ever seen actually do forged thru the tang long pulls that are curved to match the curve of each of the blade spines. No wonder they were winning many of the Exhibitions at the height of Sheffield's glory. As far as I know, Greenhough didn't have a large complex centerpiece knife -- but that is simply me saying I've never heard of such [though it seems that such did/does in fact exist - see Jim's comments below in the next post]. Joseph Rodgers had somewhat cornered the market for the ultimate examples of huge Exhibition centerpiece knives by this time after all.

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Dwight,

It was about 15 years ago that these knives first appeared at the Blade Show. Back then they used two separate, adjoining rooms for the show, within the Rennaisance Hotel itself and not across at the Expo Center. This fact is the only one that I have regarding actual date.

My wife and I bought them from a dealer and we sold them on to another dealer. Before the show was over they were sold again to a further dealer, who eventually sold them to a collector. It was this collector that offered them for sale in recent years via a well-known custom knife purveyor.

Common knowledge back then, was that a multi-bladed centerpiece had been removed from the display. To date, that knife has not turned up. More information regarding these knives can be found in the "Sheffield Exhibition Knife Book."

Jim Taylor.
 
Jim & all,
That is kind of a shame for that(the removed knife),don't you think ?
-Vince
 
I have to say I hate you guys!:D

Posting all those beautiful knives the like of which we ever saw few of here in the 'colonies.'

All kidding aside, looking at those incredible examples of the Sheffield cutlers art, I have to say that they were the absolute pinnacle of pocket knife manufacturing. These really were pocket jewelery.

Everytime I go to your Sheffield thread, I have to wear a bib like at a lobster or crab house.:o

Carl.
 
Jim - well dang, that makes me extremely curious -- just what would a full scale Greenhough centerpiece Exhibition knife look like? Rather bizarre that there seem to be no records or illustrations or pictures of such a beastie. But then again, there doesn't seem to be much surviving information on Greenhough in general (in fact, the very first time I learned of them was in the Sheffield Exhibition Knife Book).

It can be very surprising what slips into the cracks of history and is lost -- Robeson was one of the finest and largest American manufacturers of pocketknives, competing toe to toe with Remington, Case, NYKCo and the rest. Yet so far, no one has found any of their pre-WW2 catalogs or salesman's brochures or any such. This is why you never see Robeson knives in modern collectors books presented as old illustrations and cuts - only as pictures of knives from collections. And this is a company that went thru WW2 just fine making knives and was around and kicking well after. Seriously makes you doubt a lot of history in general as it has been presented to us.
 
Thanks for posting those Blyde/Greenhough knife pics Dwight :thumbup: :cool:.

I think many of the Sheffield cutlery firms had display cases showing fine examples of there wares, the best quality items they could produce, quite a few large exhibition quality multi-bladed knives were made, most of the more well known makers having a least one or two.

Mick
 
Here's a fine twelve piece gent's knife, perhaps not in the same league as the Greenhough knives but tidy nonetheless.

Marked JOHN WATTS, SHEFFIELD, EST 1755, measures 3 1/2" closed, a sort of fancy sleeveboard pattern, made C1890s ?, lovely quality, the springs are fully fileworked internally, a picker and tweezers are hidden under the mark side scale, a thumb lancet under the opposite..

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Thanks for looking..Mick
 
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Tidy indeed:thumbup:

Exquisite I'd say:D

Notice everything is sunken, nothing to catch on pockets or hands, guess where SAK got their ideas for pocket friendly multi-blades from!
 
Nothing wrong with that one, Mick!! In fact it's an absolute snorter!!

Perhaps my all-time favourite (Brit spelling) handle material. Do you have a pocket knife pit, from where you unearth these gems??

Jim Taylor.
 
wellington said:
Here's a fine twelve piece gent's knife, perhaps not in the same league as the Greenhough knives but tidy nonetheless.

Marked JOHN WATTS, SHEFFIELD, EST 1755, measures 3 1/2" closed, a sort of fancy sleeveboard pattern, made C1890s ?, lovely quality, the springs are fully fileworked internally, a picker and tweezers are hidden under the mark side scale, a thumb lancet under the opposite..

dadspics020-1.jpg


Thanks for looking..Mick
Click to expand...

That is stunning Mick!
 
Thanks for the positive comments on the Watts knife Charlie, Jim, Mike and Rob :D .

I think many Victorian period Sheffield makers were quite capable of producing some astonishing, fine quality and often complicated knives, not just the likes of Rodgers and Wostenholms, as the Blyde/Greenhoughs, and to a smaller extent the Watts, help demonstrate.

Mick.
 
Second pic in post #501; what is the cylindrical tool at the non-master end of the tortoise multiblade ? ( is there a proper name for "non-master end" )
and Mick, your use British understatement makes for delightful reading. a fine contrast to your nice knives. ("nice" being my feeble attempt at understating).
roland
 
rprocter said:
Second pic in post #501; what is the cylindrical tool at the non-master end of the tortoise multiblade ? ( is there a proper name for "non-master end" )
and Mick, your use British understatement makes for delightful reading. a fine contrast to your nice knives. ("nice" being my feeble attempt at understating).
roland
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Hi Roland,

On the Watts knife I would call the non-master end, the pen blade end, not sure whether that's correct or not ?. That cylindrical tool you mention with the spiral shank is a gimlet, used to make holes in things.

Mick
 
rprocter said:
Second pic in post #501; what is the cylindrical tool at the non-master end of the tortoise multiblade ? ( is there a proper name for "non-master end" )
and Mick, your use British understatement makes for delightful reading. a fine contrast to your nice knives. ("nice" being my feeble attempt at understating).
roland
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Mick, I think he's talking about this one:

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Isn't that a sorta mechanical pencil/lead holder?

-- Dwight
 
Mick or Dwight, do either of you know when tortoise shell stopped being used? It is amazing how beautiful it still looks after a hundred years.
 
wagglebee said:
Mick or Dwight, do either of you know when tortoise shell stopped being used? It is amazing how beautiful it still looks after a hundred years.
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Hi Rob,

Tortoiseshell mainly came from the shell of endangered Hawksbill turtle, it was used right up until the 1973 CITES ban.

Mick
 
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Here's a little whittler made in tortoise shell, it's scales are a little scuffed, but it's still OK.

Marked HARRISON BROTHERS & HOWSON, the two smaller blades are marked CUTLERS TO HER MAJESTY C1890 it measures only 2 1/2" closed, those tiny nickel silver bearded bolsters (tip bolters US) were cast and then tommied on. The small shield is pinned on using only one pin. Through the tang long pulls on all blades.

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Thanks for looking..Mick
 
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