Sheffield Museum Knives

Pipeman said:
Thanks so much for this thread Jack, some wonderful knives shown. May I please have the old butcher knive with the quill worked sheath? PLEASE ;-))))
As for museums and their stashes. The Royal Ontario Museum just finished a multi zillion dollar expansion a couple of years ago. Prior to the expansion they had 7% of their pieces on display, after the building project they had 3% of holdings on display. They certainly display the best of the best but never the stuff of the
"common folk".


Thanks again for the great thread and all the work it took you to post.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot Robin, I've been looking at that knife since I was a kid (I will have a photo of it out of the sheath somewhere if you'd like to see it). I'll put you down for it my friend ;) :thumbup:
 
This will take a while and be fun to absorb.

Lots of blinkered fashionable foolishness in a museum. I worked in one for a while.
 
Jack Black said:
In the new gallery, they've now got only one exhibition knife on show!
Click to expand...

And they're nigh on impossible to photograph! :grumpy: Each of this knife's 20 'blades' was made by a different Little Mester working for Lawrence Henry Lee. The bolsters and shield are silver, the covers ivory. Made around 1890.

wwWbruz430Bk9hjfB9e3lNikT3VM8hCDuazkI5cLOnMD7ncqQGCEMpPwdZjIKnIssIAdUZaI2bKAAp6-ChDkwvAtL5kZqU0IRT7Yg_4XQ_gleIcsG9U_74y0zN57lvcPpU55mefT3ETDJajKRYnd3qn63DSCEUd2WJU6Xdfv8NqR1o8H4C6BN0ZrPqCu0XHKabbL1A0zvuD1XnmpSDC_e1qnoxLTrHI9pH6ZqTLu6qP9IWxwsG-Mf2-3rt0Rt_Zd1BUqUCGKeDPCDKWBinOS703GRpENEB8aSvU--YtdJM1mcsIqpM1wHBEZrzGOUWNc7cRZep6u6lsvbkyXVrUfkSGevzBc9Yv0Ix3M2lr8uu7Ao1UldwTLU9N3haCfGodSwe4XDngJLTzwv4nw74eTuFYg6WVhMmzomzlMVIbePjrWZp-SPRrbLAeewBpVhNlIArVPs3ESV9TInANyZaRqYGNZvDn2FFguZhNKu1QH4J-UxNTLFy_2duoy29Xcf4tlIbUii8WrdhF1LkR9QnJACgy6DiogXZi0uFHoajgJB3m88hFl4iNCHDBAJLHuSN0is7v6=w1024-h635-no


JA_-FOrygfkMQJZduqApR94iczwp4VE6IsHV8lE730X5bfN-VYu6ozSnEy4HEgRl9mZyIQcoqSy0gAfq3CoY_roSIM9chy5_8phuL0U41SXVwBbaxprA17ZG03DxZ8yJ9gsUepfYEb079V0c1FixsFw-CJKmhKeoy1PGwAb_vcTC8EvdgYWy6M_GT4ruQqtX592GSF5LVIvvV159QXFD13Sjbv6d9mj5iWbCT8CmR1_MXF7C1sijg2mjcM3AEdeJ9dHsjg-wr9jXJ1lk60_qN3rA5BnrgVzUrAleEjdWbQjpfE55fch-xLrJStSMkPYDEJP00vYcTwNiHxUgcM0EYfhDXkXuaKUEaXdIbhHbMkAsAEMTprjirvalEO-SmvLWIbMjwUhSC4nk5vGu4tuQl-4PLf_6bqe-a3ZAKfCHXZu3Ee3vKZhFyu4__MHd3ekIKP2koyIRR2Qj8MJmBHTQHzTAdxMNBHrksydVb5VZL_l3K4mpmTGg8I0AsPr6lG6Lc_8XqflkB7jq4wGXHdU8FqSgQIjrZXDlQvuu09YgPK1-v-v1jqt0jT1XC1d7PwpZpl90=w1024-h639-no
 
I'm not sure if the discussion is appropriate for this forum but in brief, I suspect that it's difficult for knife museums to pay the rent unless they are absorbed into a knife selling business. I think that's what happened in the USA... to the collections that weren't broken up and liquidated. This generation seems much less interested in history. Even on bladeforums, the old knives thread is fairly inactive. But some of the modern traditional knives seem to be reviving an interest in some of the oldies.
 
In addition to the wonderful knives, I'm finding the age of some of the original donations really interesting. Some of the knives have been in museums for a very long time.

"This knife was donated to what is now Weston Park Museum in 1875, the year that it opened."
 
Thank you for sharing this with us Jack. A wonderful, if small, glimpse into the past. Such a tragedy that more history wasn't preserved for and by the museums. The history of Sheffield and the world is poorer for the loss.

Chris
 
Holy ____! What a thread! So. many. cool. knives. I'm blown away by some of these. There's several that really stood out, IMO. Charlie C. could get some cool ideas for his purpose built knives. This thread is a forum gem.
 
Jack, your dedication and enthusiasm for the hobby is amazing! You're a true asset to us all. Thank you for taking the time to put this together. :D:thumbup:
 
Many thanks for posting this Jack, very interesting indeed!:thumbup:

I shall spend the evening glued to it!

Cheers

Paul
 
I spent a few minutes on their website. The knives are all jumbled up under the category of metalwork. Jack did a great job organizing everything!

According to the website, the Weston Park Museum took some damage during the "Sheffield Blitz" of WWII. They currently have an exhibit of some of the damage. I wonder if any cutlery was damaged or lost.
 
Thanks a lot for the kind words folk, really appreciate it :) :thumbup:

Bob, it's fantastic to see you back! :) :) :) :thumbup:

I'm not sure I'll have a chance to check out the Weston Park Museum exhibition before it ends Jake. I used to live just down the road, and must have been round it hundreds and hundreds of times. When my kids were young they wanted to go everyday! :D

The Sheffield Blitz refers to two nights of heavy bombing during WW2 when over 660 Sheffield people were killed, 1,500 injured and 40,000 made homeless. 3,000 homes were demolished with a further 3,000 badly damaged. A total of 78,000 homes received damage. Six George Medals were awarded to citizens of Sheffield for their bravery during the raids (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheffield_Blitz).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top