Possibly an old Sheffield Bowie, or maybe a remake, but, nicely made!...

It's been about a month or so since picking up my J. Rogers & Sons Sheffield made knife. So, it was about that time to find a way to include her into my decor, (which is something I do with most of the items I have in my "interesting objects collection").
Here is a picture showing the knife amongst some other "things" in a small display case. It incorporates my usual style of mixing and blending in new, vintage, and antique items. I would say for sure that the years 1895 through 2020, (a 125 year span), covers everything shown here. The origins are... England, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and USA.

Btw, I paid $50 out the door for the Sheffield knife, so I feel it was had for quite a deal, (as far as buying such items go) :)

The roughly estimated vintage dates for these items...

*BGI Co. whistle 1895 - 1905

*J. Rogers knife 1900 - 1920

*Calura whistle 1920 - 1940

*Victorinox knife 1940 - 1950

*Police chain come along restraints 1950 - 1970

*Pewter car 1980 - 1985

*Horseshoe shaped pewter flask 2000 - 2010

*Rectangular pewter flask 2010 - 2015

*Miniature folding knife 2019 - 2020

 
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When I was playing musical chairs with some of my collection's do-dads, (as I often do to fit new items in), it got me to thinking of another possible way of dating my Joseph Rodgers hunting Bowie knife.
I understand that the blade having the country of origin stamped into it means no earlier than 1892'ish for it's earliest possible manufactured date. Then there is the fact that the company sold it's 6 Norfolk property sometime before 1930. So, that information alone dates the knife as having been made somewhere in that almost 40 year span.
I was hoping to narrow that circa range for my own personal knowledge of it.
The shuffling around of some items got me to thinking about it's sheath. Although there is no way to ever be 100% certain that the sheath the knife came in is the original that it left the factory with... I would say that I would be willing to bet every last penny to my name that it is. I mean, if it looks and quacks like a duck... well, you know, it just likely is a duck.
So, assuming that the sheath is indeed original to the knife, (and again, I really have no doubt in my mind that it wouldn't be original to it), then maybe the type of sheath that it is can further narrow down the circa of the knife.
Although hunting Bowie knives continued being made in this pattern by Joseph Rodgers beyond the turn of the century, I do believe that this sort of sheath, with it's belt loop attachment method, it's up the middle stitching of the leather, and the nickel silver tip and throat, were dropped at some point and replaced with the simpler all leather sheaths more common in our minds when thinking of hunting knife sheaths.
So, what do you folks think, does the type of sheath that my knife have help in narrowing the circa of it? What decade did Joseph Rodgers start replacing this type of sheath with the easier made leather only type?
I don't know how descriptive the Joseph Rodgers catalogs of back in the day were, or if they commonly depicted drawings of the sheaths supplied with their knives. But, if they were pretty descriptive about them, then it would surely give the best idea of when the simpler made replacement sheaths started coming onboard and when the type that my knife has went to the wayside.
Thanks in advance for any input on this that you folks may be able to offer :)





 
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