A couple of pearl knives, one to ID

[beresman]

Well, I'm back...I bought several nice little pearl knives, and two of them have markings that are not terribly legible. One I was able to identify, and the other--well, I'm hoping someone might recognize the marks...

The first is one that says "Mechi" and appears to say "4 Leaden". Goins lists a T.J. Mechi with an address of 112 Regent Street--but when I did a Google search, I also found a J.J. Mechi at 4 Leadenhall St--bingo! The catalog was from 1841 and appears to be for a store that sells a lot of household goods. Pen knives were listed at 2 Pounds Sterling at the time--so this was probably a luxury item.

The second I cannot really identify. It's a Sheffield knife, but the maker's name appears to start with "Wa" and--well, it goes south from there. If I had to guess, I'd say "Wankakill", but that didn't get me any returns, nor did a couple of other permutations I tried.

Any ideas?

[Ridgegrass]

Maybe "WARRANTED"? J.O'.

[beresman]

Maybe "WARRANTED"? J.O'.

Hm...quite possibly. It's not what I *want* it to be, but that seems more likely than anything else I've been able to come up with.

[Dinadan]

I do not think the word is WARRANTED. To me, it looks something like WAN_AHILL.

[Ridgegrass]

Try a pencil? Different lighting angles? A "rubbing"? Good luck. J.O'.

[beresman]

Try a pencil? Different lighting angles? A "rubbing"? Good luck. J.O'.

Yep, I took a bunch of photos; this was about the best I could get with or without the pencil rubbing. Here are a few more.

The microscope has built-in lighting, but I created a filter out of paper to soften it a bit--it doesn't look much better to me, but...

[Ridgegrass]

I'm sticking with "warranted", only because I've nothing else. J.O'.

[Miller Bro's]

Warranted X2

[beresman]

Warranted X2

As in double stamped? Which helps explain why it's so mushy looking.

[inmacha]

Why not try a pencil? various lighting stances?

[Miller Bro's]

As in double stamped? Which helps explain why it's so mushy looking.

No, I was agreeing with Ridgegrass and his assessment, hence the X2.

When that knife was stamped the tang stamp was probably already used many thousands of times, stamps wore out and would still be used over and over again. Cutlery companies never threw anything away, I have many old knives in unused condition that have been stamped with a worn out tang stamp and are hard to read just like your knife.

[beresman]

When that knife was stamped the tang stamp was probably already used many thousands of times, stamps wore out and would still be used over and over again. Cutlery companies never threw anything away, I have many old knives in unused condition that have been stamped with a worn out tang stamp and are hard to read just like your knife.

Makes sense. Same thing happened with coin dies.