What folding knife didn’t Sherlock Holmes have?

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Raymond1000

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There’s an old thread entitled: What folding knife did Sherlock Holmes have? http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/800558-What-folding-knife-did-Sherlock-Holmes-have?highlight=Sherlock+Holmes

In entry # 41, I mentioned the knife Holmes deduced one of the “burglars” carried when they broke into The Abbey Grange.

“This bottle was opened by a pocket-screw, probably contained in a knife, and not more than an inch and a half long. If you examine the top of the cork you will observe that the screw was driven in three times before the cork was extracted. It has never been transfixed. This long screw would have transfixed it and drawn it with a single pull. When you catch this fellow you will find that he has one of these multiplex knives in his possession."

In the Jeremy Brett production of The Abbey Grange, Holmes’ examination of the wine bottle happens about 17 minutes in. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbKNQ9oZfMI&feature=related

The same dramatization shows the knife in question—at least as Granada Television’s prop department imagined it. You can see the interview when Crocker shows the knife at about 32 minutes in.

Holmes asks Captain Crocker what cord he used to tie the manor’s silver to a log in the mere. Fishing line from the gunroom?

Crocker says, no, it was tarred twine. “It’s a throwback to my days before the mast. Even now I always carry a silver coin, a length of twine…”
Holmes finishes for him, “And a multiplex knife.” Captain Crocker shows the knife. It looks much like a SAK, with a corkscrew and dark green scales. A flashback about 42 minutes in shows him open the wine bottle.

I must say I like the Captain’s taste in EDC. Cord and a knife are both good to have when the balloon goes up.

IIRC, the silver was an old sailor’s custom. It was to pay for burial, should Jack Tar’s drowned body wash ashore.
 
Th Abbey Grange was a good one. It showed Holmes's character in that he wasn't so much interested in the law, as in true justice.

Carl.
 
Jeremy Brett was as close to what I envisioned Holmes to be as is possible. To this day I can't read the stories without thinking of Jeremy. But back on topic, I've often wondered what type of knife Holmes would use. I always imagined Watson using a physician's knife for obvious reasons, but Holmes' selection always escaped me. At times he was extremely practical and at times much more refined. Thanks for bringing this up.
 
In the episode "The Devils Foot" Brett is shown taking some soot samples from a lampshade with a pearl or ivory wharncliffe bladed folder. Very Very Sheffield looking.

In another episode, Watson, (the better Waston, Edward Hardwick) takes out a small white handled pen nice from a vest pocket to open a envelope, but the viewer never gets a good look at it. Hardwick does it so smoothly and quick, you hardly get more than a seconds glimpse of it. Hardwick was a perfect Watson.

You are right, Brett is THE perfect Holmes as described in the books.

Carl.
 
bemo said:
Jeremy Brett was as close to what I envisioned Holmes to be as is possible. To this day I can't read the stories without thinking of Jeremy. But back on topic, I've often wondered what type of knife Holmes would use. I always imagined Watson using a physician's knife for obvious reasons, but Holmes' selection always escaped me. At times he was extremely practical and at times much more refined. Thanks for bringing this up.
Click to expand...

For a while the BBC was on a roll. They found the perfect Lord Peter Whimsy in Edward Petherbridge. The perfect Miss Marple in Joan Hickson. The perfect Poirot in David Suchet. And, of course, the perfect Holmes in Jeremy Brett.

None of them have been bettered to this day.
 
Ditto on Jeremy Brett. We have DVD's of every one of his Holmes movies. We watch them, in sequence, at least once a year.

I was disappointed in the knife in Abbey Grange. It did look like a SAK, as opposed to a period piece, although it might not have been. They were generally so correct in everything else. Surely, someone could have produced an accurate multi-blade from the time.
 
Raymond1000 said:
For a while the BBC was on a roll. They found the perfect Lord Peter Whimsy in Edward Petherbridge. The perfect Miss Marple in Joan Hickson. The perfect Poirot in David Suchet. And, of course, the perfect Holmes in Jeremy Brett.

None of them have been bettered to this day.
Click to expand...

Hear hear! Even when reading a Poirot story I can only ever imagine David Suchet. My girlfriend likes me to read stories to her, and I even have to do the voices. The Suchet Poirot is my linguistic template :p
 
The coin tradition may be even older. It may stem from the belief in ancient times that one needed a coin to pay the boatman to cross the river Sticks.
 
Raymond1000 said:
Holmes asks Captain Crocker what cord he used to tie the manor’s silver to a log in the mere. Fishing line from the gunroom?

Crocker says, no, it was tarred twine. “It’s a throwback to my days before the mast. Even now I always carry a silver coin, a length of twine…”
Holmes finishes for him, “And a multiplex knife.” Captain Crocker shows the knife. It looks much like a SAK, with a corkscrew and dark green scales. A flashback about 42 minutes in shows him open the wine bottle.

I must say I like the Captain’s taste in EDC. Cord and a knife are both good to have when the balloon goes up.

IIRC, the silver was an old sailor’s custom. It was to pay for burial, should Jack Tar’s drowned body wash ashore.
Click to expand...

There is a saying over here that you should always carry a knife, some string, and a coin, then you can CUT, TIE and BUY
I'm not sure where it comes from, some say it was used in the Boy Scouts?
 
Jeremy Brett brought the character of Holmes to life . Whilst I like the RDJ/Guy Ritchie Holmes movies they are pure fantasy.
Somewhere in there was Basil Rathbone but as he was fighting Nazis he bore little resemblance Conan Doyles Victorian detective.
Sadly Edward Hadwicke passed away earlier this year.
 
So to try and bring this back a little, the old thread made some really good points and will probably push me to buy a Barlow (haven't had one of those since I was like 9 yrs old and bought one of the terrible Imperial ones). But since I can't resist, Holmes also had a bit of a sentimental side to him and periodically had keepsakes from interesting cases. It would be easy to see him with a knife that was either a gift or figured prominently in a challenging case. So is there a Barlow pattern that would be most period accurate? Or would an English Jack be a better choice?
 
I don’t remember this incident from the cannon. But then, it has been long and long since I last reread them.

I did enjoy the sly humor of this.

The Abbey Grange begins with Holmes chiding Watson on turning his write ups to the purpose of story. Instead of the instructions in the art of detection they could be.

Later they meet a shipping clerk. Holmes, “Your perspicacity astonishes me.”

He replies, “I assure you it was only by reading the good Doctor’s masterly exposition of your work that I now have any small ability to reason.”

Holmes, “Really. You amaze me.”

Pause. “Watson, are you taking notes?” :D
 
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