Need help on care/repair

[whisky]

My Father in Law died and I came into possession of a kitchen knife made by Henry Sears & Son. It has an oval on the blade that has Henry Sears & Son in the top of the oval and Warranted in the bottom and the date 1865 in the center of the oval. Web research has led me to believe this was a Chicago knife company about the time of the civil war that made good knives for the time. It has a 9 inch long blade and a 4.75 inch handle. The handle appears to be silver or silver plate, but it might be nickeled. The blade had been nickle plated but some has worn away from sharpening. Unfortunately 1.75 inches from the point there is a 1/8 inch chip in the blade. There is also a 3/16 inch space between the handle and the blade. I know how to grind and cool to reshape the blade. My first question is would reshaping the blade destroy the value of the knife (if it has any)? The handle will neither come off nor goo forward to meet the blade. What is the best way of correcting this without marring the handle or bending the blade? Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks

 

[phatch]

If it's valuable, messing around with the shape and such will cut the value significantly.

Phil

 

[whisky]

Thanks Phil,

Do you have any idea where I could find out if it has value? If it doesn't I'd like to restore it and use it

Stu