Old World's Fair Knife

[smiling-knife]

This is a souvenir knife from the 1904 St Louis Worlds Fair. St Louis was the 3rd largest US city at the time. The main attraction was the Louisianna Purchase exhibition which commemorated the 1803 purchase of land that more than doubled the size of the US. More than 12 million visitors paid the 50cents entrance fee over the 7 months of the fair. The name on the tang is AJ Jordan. Jordan was the name of an importing company based in St Louis in the latter 1800s and early 1900s. They imported knives made in Sheffield and Germany. This one was made in Solingen. The handle is made from a light-weight metal, aluminum I think. Interesting old knife. s-k

 

[sunnyd]

S-K,

That is a very interesting knife indeed. Your photography is great and shows much detail on this very fine piece. Its hard to believe this knife is 102+ years old.. BTW, you can check that metal with a magnet to determine if its aluminum or if the magnet sticks perhaps some type of lightweight steel..

 

[smiling-knife]

Thank-you sunnyd. It is in great shape for 102 years old. I need to see if I can locate a magnet around here somewhere. Will let you know what develops.

 

[puukkoman]

I'll bet it's aluminum. I seem to remember hearing that 100+ years ago, it was almost considered semi-precious.

 

[Sword and Shield]

I'll bet it's aluminum. I seem to remember hearing that 100+ years ago, it was almost considered semi-precious.

Forget "semi" precious. Aluminum 100+ years ago was more highly valued than gold, due to there not being an easy way to produce it. The point on the Washington Monument is actually a 5 5/8ths inch tall pyramid of aluminum, actually.

 

[Karl5]

Actually, if you go a few years back still...
Napoleon used to serve the food on his dinners with the ultra-important guests on aluminium plates, since it was way more expencive than gold or platinum in those days.
Because it those days, it wasn't easy at all to produce aliminium.

/ Karl