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

george65 said:
kinda wore out, but here's an old wharncliff whittler marked on all blades:
T. Reaney
Shales
moor


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That's a great old whittler with a true split backspring and looks to be pretty early also. Here's the information from Pigot's Sheffield Directory 1841,

"Thomas REANEY Pen & pocket knife manufacturer 239 Shales Moor"

Thanks for showing a rare and early knife.

Joe
 
Yaro5 said:
Here is one of my favorite knives and knife patterns. This an early IXL four blade Senator.
All blades stamped "IXL George Wostenholm Celebrated Cutlery" with the master spear stamped "The Senators Knife" on the blade.
Nickel silver pinched bolsters with mop scales (which the scan does not do justice) and brass milled liners.

Joe

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Hi Joe, thanks for adding your wonderful Wostenholm senator to this thread, a fabulous example, fit, finish, pinched bolsters, scales, pearl, blades all look superb, high quality !.

george65, a really nice interesting whittler, don't see many with the back spring split in two part way, surely an early sign ?, Thos Reaney moved from 27 Matthew St to the Shalesmoor address (237 & 243) between 1837-39. Thanks for showing !.

Mick
 
Here's an old cutlery handled clip point Bowie, ricasso marked EDWARD BARNES & SON 12 inch overall, German silver hollow handle, matching thin oval crossguard, 7 inch blade etched For The Gold Searchers Protection. Original leather sheath with a gold embossed design, german silver mounts. Guess the knife was made C 1850s ? (California gold mining trade).


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Thanks for looking...Mick
 
Rare and beautiful knives showing up here! George 65, that is a neat history lesson, and Yaros, what a beauty!!
Here's a strange Joseph Rodgers & Sons pen knife. A little over 3 1/4", it is hefty for a Pen, with its squared off pattern. Undyed bone, all tangs stamped. Never sharpened, the blades absolutely fill the interior of the knife. Very tightly fitted. Not graceful yet well made, I think of it as my Proletarian Pen vs. a Gent's knife!:D
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Once again, I hope it fits the time frame! S-K may have told us once, but I forgot to note his comments for this particular knife, and did not find where I'd previously posted it.
 
Near simultaneous posts; that's a beauty of a Bowie, Mick! I guess it never made it to the goldfields??:D
 
george65 those backsprings are not only split they are tapered. eye whittlers had tapered backsprings until 80s. wellington that bowie needs to be in a safe deposit box.
 
jackknife said:
I have always been deeply captivated by the dark hued stag that the English companies used. Nobody else ever had the texture and shade of those old ones from Sheffield. I'm convinced they had some deep closely guarded secret process for that stag. Even the Germans, who used a lot of it, never had the look of the Sheffield companies.

I love stag porn. There I said it.:D
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Man you said it Jackknife!:thumbup:
I got this knife just because of the stag. Tang stamp says "Ajax Cutlery Sheffield in 3 lines. there are no marks I can see on the pile side of tang. But someone has really buffed the daylights out of the blade. I can find nothing about this stamp, if anyone can help I'd appreciate hearing.
This lockback pattern is quite large at 5 1/8" closed. The pattern nor the buffing appealed to me but the stag really did. As I've noticed on some others posted in this thread, 1 side is quite a bit lighter in color than the other. Which I attribute to 1 side being exposed to more daylight.
Any ideas on age? Thanks,
Dave

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Hi Dave, that's ^^ quite a large sturdy looking lockback, agree the stag scales are really nice, shame about the over cleaned blade !. The "Ajax" trade mark was owned by J G Graves Ltd (retailer), wonder if there's a connection to Ajax Cutlery ?, guessing early 20C ?.

Thanks for showing !

Mick
 
Here's a WR IV or early VR period (1835-40) folding dirk, marked WILLIAM NICHOLSON, measures 5" closed, iron liners, bolsters and pins, horn scales, it has a truly wonderful etched blade.

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Thanks for looking.

Wishing all a happy Christmas and prosperous new year :)

Mick
 
wellington that little folding bowie is the best i've ever seen in my life. did'nt think anything like that still existed.
 
Stunning workmanship, stunning condition, stunning knife. 170+ years old and it looks like it was made yesterday. Thanks for showing Mick. Keep them coming.

Joe
 
Great Scott!!!!:eek:

Amazing Mick!! One in a million!!
 
Thanks for the responses on the Nicholson Jim, Dennis, Joe and waynorth :thumbup:

Here's another very fine pocket knife, made in the "golden age" of Sheffield cutlery manufacturing.

This late 19C 3 1/4" closed, "five thick" pearl scaled sportsman's has ten blades and tools plus picker and tweezers inserts, the sheepfoot master-blade is marked W SINGLETON & CO, RAZOR STEEL, SHEFFIELD (the pile side of which has the Singleton TM two broad arrows tang stamped), the pen and manicure blades are marked W SINGLETON & CO, 10 BAKERS HILL, SHEFFIELD (the Bakers Hill area is between the Ponds Forge Swimming Pool and the City centre).

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Thanks for looking..Mick
 
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waynorth said:
Great Scott!!!!:eek:

Amazing Mick!! One in a million!!
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WOW!. +1 !

In fact, not only Mick's contributions here, but this whole THREAD and evryone elses in here is one-hell-uv-a JIM DANDY when you see all the fine knives put fourth!:thumbup:

Thanks all & a very Merry Christmas!
 
Mick, every knife you post is like being in a Cutlery Museum, each piece being the finest known specimen.
Thank You. only now do i understand why Sheffield gained it's reputation as the zenith of this era, and really of all time, for making magnificent folders.
roland
 
sunnyd said:
WOW!. +1 !

In fact, not only Mick's contributions here, but this whole THREAD and evryone elses in here is one-hell-uv-a JIM DANDY when you see all the fine knives put fourth!:thumbup:

Thanks all & a very Merry Christmas!
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Cheers, sunnyd :thumbup:, great knives added, I would like to thank all who have posted comments, or added pictures of thier favourites to this thread.

rprocter said:
Mick, every knife you post is like being in a Cutlery Museum, each piece being the finest known specimen.
Thank You. only now do i understand why Sheffield gained it's reputation as the zenith of this era, and really of all time, for making magnificent folders.
roland
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Thanks for the comments Roland, agree some great knives were produced around Sheffield in the past, I guess the "torch" is now been carried by many of the US custom makers..fabulous quality..attention to detail..attractive patterns..but new materials and manufacturing methods.

Mick
 
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