Silver Fruit Knives A Golden Age

[Miller Bro's]

This is an unusual one I found today.

It is only 2 3/8" long. It is shaped just like a Quill knife. The blosters are Grooved Sterling Silver. The blade is Sterling. The pins are low grade Gold. the handles are firey MOP.

No makers marks on this one.

[Draac]

A feast for the eyes my Silver Fruit Knife collection continues to grow.

Enjoy....Please click the image for a more detailed look around.

Draac

[Miller Bro's]

Very nice!

Your off to a good start

[Draac]

Vintage ornate "GORHAM" Fruit Knife

Tang on blade marked: Gorham on the opposite side the numbers 0101

There are no hallmarks on the knife. The weight of this knife is 1.35oz

Question: I can not date this knife. Knowing what the knife tang is stamped can anyone help me out with dating this beautiful fruit knife ? (Click on the first two images to enlarge to see the tang marks).

Thanks for any help you can provide,
Draac

[Miller Bro's]

Draac,

I have the same knife with the same marks. I don`t know how to date American made Fruit knives. The English had a superior system of marks that, as you know, allows you to date a knife to a specific year. That is otherwise unheard of in the antique knife collecting world.

The closest you can come to finding a date would be to obtain old factory catalogs and see when a pattern appeared and the disappeared. But finding these are few and far between.

D

[Draac]

Draac,

I have the same knife with the same marks. I don`t know how to date American made Fruit knives. The English had a superior system of marks that, as you know, allows you to date a knife to a specific year. That is otherwise unheard of in the antique knife collecting world.

The closest you can come to finding a date would be to obtain old factory catalogs and see when a pattern appeared and the disappeared. But finding these are few and far between.

D

Thank you Miller Bro`s for your reply. I'll do some research on Gorham factory catalogs, maybe I can get my hands on one. I get lucky looking for things once in awhile.

Draac

[zed6309]

Wow some great looking knives here, my grandad carried one like these for years and i remember him peeling apples for us with it, i use my pocket knife for this task now and then for my kids,

[slimpickins]

Miller Bro's here's ny only two. The top one letter date 1869 maker JB.The second one is dated1873, maker Thomas Marples. The reference I was looking at shows a JB but it was registered in 1906 and the relief around the letters dont't match mine. Any ideas? Slim.

[Miller Bro's]

The reference I was looking at shows a JB but it was registered in 1906 and the relief around the letters dont't match mine. Any ideas?

I believe it is a Sheffield maker, Jas. Burbury.

[slimpickins]

Thanks Miller Bro's for the info. I could only reference to a John Bigins and Joseph and Thomas and Joseph and Edward Bradbury. I also dated the Marples wrong, it's 1876. The real point is these old fruit knives were works of art. Slim.

[IMBand]

This is an unusual one I found today.

It is only 2 3/8" long. It is shaped just like a Quill knife. The blosters are Grooved Sterling Silver. The blade is Sterling. The pins are low grade Gold. the handles are firey MOP.

No makers marks on this one.

I have seen a few knives with the long pull extending throught the tang. ITS AWESOME !!
I wish more knives were made like this. Don't know why, but it really does it for me.
Great knife as always MB.

[Miller Bro's]

The real point is these old fruit knives were works of art. Slim.

They sure were Slim

I have seen a few knives with the long pull extending throught the tang. ITS AWESOME !!
I wish more knives were made like this. Don't know why, but it really does it for me.
Great knife as always MB.

Thanks! From what I have read about the subject only the very best and most expensive knives had the pull extending to the end of the tang, for example, exhibition knives.

This would be true for this knife as it is constructed of Gold, Silver, and M.O.P, all the most expensive materials in the day to use on a pocket knife

[Miller Bro's]

Found these all sterling silver Fruit knives, American made unmarked as to maker.

[Beechtree]

This was posted in the All Metal Knives thread, but it belongs in this one here.

Here are a few old knives.
The first two present some interesting lore.
The DERBY SILIVER Co. fruit knife was the first I purchased. Originally, I thought that it was made in the 1880's in Derby Conn along the banks of the Housatonic. Latter I saw the Holley MFG. Co. and realized my error. It appears that the Derby Silver Company contracted the job out to Holley.
The second pair of fruit knives are from the Meriden Britannia Co. from West Meriden Conn. They might date to the the 1880's or early 90's?
Each knife is 3"

[trey]

Have any of you seen a book called 'Pocket Fruit Knives'? It was written by an English author. It is pretty good.
My local Half Price Books had 5 or 6 of them. Some of the knives had gold blades as well as silver.

[Beechtree]

Sounds like a neat read I will look it up, thanks.

[Miller Bro's]

Those knives are a nice addition to this thread

[DrTom]

My granddaddy's fruit knife, supposedly given to him by his father, before WWI.

[Beechtree]

Welcome to AAPK DrTom. That is a very pretty fruit knife you have there. Beautiful design, and I really like the unique shape of the seed pick. Are there any markings on it to suggest the maker? Even though it is already beautiful, having it be your great grandfathers makes it all the more beautiful!

[DrTom]

Nice to be here, and thanks for your welcome message. There are no markings anywhere. Here's the reverse side, a bit plainer but still decorative. I didn't know about "seed pick". My grandfather said the little pick was for scoring an orange peel into quarter sections you could peel off. Any idea if it's English or American?

[knife7knut]

Welcome to the forum! I don't know whether it is the background you shot the picture against or the actual color of the knife but it looks almost like it is made of pewter.I have never seen a fruit knife of this color and I have a fair amount of them.
The seed pick looks to be of American origin.There were only a few companies in the USA that made fruit knives and most of them were silver plated or marked,"COIN" to indicate their silver content(.900 fine).I don't have my Karsten's book on silver knives handy or I could give you the makers' names.I have a gold plated one in my collection that has a pick very similar to yours.(see pic).

[DrTom]

That's its real color, kind of a dull grey-silver. The pick shape makes it seem of U.S origin?
Thanks for your comment!

[Miller Bro's]

That's its real color, kind of a dull grey-silver. The pick shape makes it seem of U.S origin?

Some of the U.S. ones were unmarked, all the English ones were marked.

Definitely American made I have one just like it somewhere, If I recall the one I have had brass as a base metal and it was plated with silver.

[DrTom]

Interesting! I won't do anything to it to see if there's brass underneath. Where or who in America might have done the lovely artwork?

[Miller Bro's]

Interesting! I won't do anything to it to see if there's brass underneath.

By all means do not remove any of the plating or surface metal.
Some were plated steel as well, to test for steel, take a magnet and see if it attracts to it.

Another non destructive test would be to flex the blade gently from side to side, if it is sterling it will bend easily, if it is a brass base it will not flex easily.

Where or who in America might have done the lovely artwork?

A few possibilities could be Meriden Brittania, Gorham or Albert Coles.