Silver Fruit Knives A Golden Age

[knifegirl888]

Great bunch of knives!

I have one that I am curious about. It is a Walker & Hall, Sheffield. It's 3 5/16" closed. When we bought it, I didn't even know we were buying a silver knife. The pictures were poor on Ebay & the scales were completely black. When I got it, I realized that it was tarnished & took out my rag and wiped it down. There are no markings to indicate that it is silver. Does that indicate that it is just plated?

[Miller Bro's]

There are no markings to indicate that it is silver. Does that indicate that it is just plated?

The English were pretty critical about marking stuff that was made out of Silver.

The blade is plated steel, take a magnet to it and see if it sticks, I bet it will

The handles almost appear to be Aluminum to my eye, but if they were black when you got it they too could be plated as well.

[knifegirl888]

It is an interesting piece...

The magnet does stick to the blade, but not the handle. The blade itself had tarnish on it also, plated steel would be correct.

The handles being aluminum plated silver sounds like the right assumption. It was very tarnished when I got it. I would think if it was all silver, it would have had to have been marked somewhere.

[Miller Bro's]

The handles being aluminum plated silver sounds like the right assumption.

No, they would never plate aluminum with silver.

I meant if the handles were black when you got it, they could be silver plated Steel handles.

That`s why you should never rush to clean and polish an old knife

Now, if the the handles were just oxidized and not black, then the handles might just be Aluminum.

The best way to tell is to do a silver acid test on it, inside the carved decoration.

It may very well be silver, but it should be Hallmarked or at least marked Sterling.

[knifegirl888]

Thanks, MB.

I am still learning. I actually got this knife maybe a year ago, when I first became interested in knives. I didn't realize that cleaning a knife was a bad thing back then.

[knifegirl888]

Seeing Draac's Wostenholm (which is a beauty) reminded me of a Wostenholm that I have. It has Sterling written on the scale on the larger end.

[Miller Bro's]

A nice little silver fruit knife.

Made in England, sterling blade, hallmarked.

Threaded bolsters and nicely carved MOP handles.

These knives were hand engraved with the scales on the knife. If a mistake was made the handle would have to be removed and another put on.

[Draac]

Antique GORHAM Sterling Silver Folding Pocket Knife

Gorham Hallmarks as far as I can tell 1863 to 1890, Marked Sterling on the tang.

I got for a steal at $28.00 !!

Here is a nice site to look up your hallmarks:
http://www.925-1000.com/index.html

Draac

[knifegirl888]

Wow!! That's a great knife & a great deal!

[Draac]

Wow!! That's a great knife & a great deal!

Thanks knifegirl888 also I looked at the edge very closely with a loop and I can not see that it was ever sharpened. That too is a plus.

Draac

[Draac]

I won this one off of Ebay last night for $75.00 (I hope I didn't pay too much for it, but I do like it).

1872 Sheffield Sterling Silver MOP pocket fruit knife by Thomas Marples.

The hallmarks on the blade are:

City Mark: Crown - Sheffield
Year Mark: E - 1872
Country Mark: Lion - England
Duty Mark: Lady's Profile - Queen Victoria
Maker's Mark: TM - Thomas Marples

Approx. Size folded is 2.5" x 0.5"
Length when open is approx. 4.25"
Blade length is approx. 1.75"

Draac

[Draac]

1897 Sheffield Victorian Silver Mother Pearl Fruit Knife by George Hardisty

Mother of Pearl handle with solid silver blade
fully hallmarked for Sheffield 1897 maker GH = George Hardisty or George Howson ?
Plain central silver cartouche shield to one side
Length 3" total length 5 1/2" - width of handle 1/2"
Open and closes well

Draac

[knifegirl888]

Draac,

You really have a great collection of these. What a quality collection! Thanks for posting them!

[Draac]

1926 - Sheffield Solid Silver Mother of Pearl Fruit Knife By Charles William Fletcher

Fine Early Sheffield mother of perl fruit knife closed measures approx 2 3/4" long blade 2 1/4" fully Hallmarked Sheffield makers initials C.W.F. (Charles William Fletcher) date letter i 1926, nickle silver bolsters brass liners, firm blade good edge no tarnish, mother of perl grip in very good condition no damage or knocks.

Draac

[Draac]

1874 Sheffield Hallmarked Mother of Pearl Fruit Knife By Thomas Marples

By the hallmarks it would appear to be from 1874. the Mother of Pearl handle has nice engraving and there is even engraving along the side of the handle. The blade has only a very slight bend about 3/4 of an inch from the tip. The knife closed measures almost 3 1/2 inches and open measures 6 inches. Hallmarks are a crown, a lion, a G and a young Queen Victoria. The silversmith's initials are T.M into a cut corners rectangle (Thomas Marples).

Learning about hallmarks, do you feel by what you see on this knife that I got this right?

Draac

[Knife Nut]

Wow, guys........love to see the delicate carvings on those pearls.
SWEET!

Paul

[Miller Bro's]

Draac,

All very nice knives.

That T. Marples is just superb

[knifegirl888]

Draac,

That pearl is so pretty & full of fire. That is hard to capture in photos & I can see the pinks and blues in the second photo. NICE!

[Miller Bro's]

Learning about hallmarks, do you feel by what you see on this knife that I got this right?

Looks right to me

[Draac]

Learning about hallmarks, do you feel by what you see on this knife that I got this right?

Looks right to me

Thanks Miller Bro`s. I just ordered 2 books on hallmarks. I would like to really get to know about them, the info could benefit me at yard sales and flee markets.

[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