Homage to Traditional Pen Knives

[danno50]

Very nice, Greg!

[Miller Bro's]

Nice knives Lee and Greg

Here's one of my favorites

[danno50]

That is a beauty, Dimitri!
Dan

[FRJ]

Oh, yeah, that's a dandy, Dimitri.

[LongBlade]

Thanks Dimitri

Great looking old Wostenholm congress Dimitri ... Thanks for sharing it!!

[Miller Bro's]

Thank you gentleman!

[BWT]

Great looking knife Dimitri, really like those handles, thanks for sharing.

[Miller Bro's]

Thanks Bill

[LongBlade]

This thread has yet to have a quill knife posted which would fall under pen knives - I thought I would share this group shot I took the other day of 3 old Sheffield quills of mine -

From top to bottom:

John Hinchcliffe (ca 1830-1851)

G-Crown-R (prior to 1830) - Stamp under Royal Warrant Marks was unknown until KJ recently suggested it may say "Patent"... also the Royal Warrant Marks appear to be from a hand carved die stamp indicating a very early knife... It may be a Joseph Rodgers made quill as suggested to me a few years ago but not sure.. Tortoise with sterling silver band at mid-cover; Also appears to be a gold plated bolster as seen on knives in Smiths Key of Sheffield knives from 1816; Stove-pipe kick

V-Crown-R (1837-1901) - Carved Ivory with coping blade

[danno50]

Three very nice old quill knives, Lee! I especially like the tortoise shell handled one.
Dan

[LongBlade]

Thanks very much Dan ... I think that knife is the oldest in my collection (prior to 1830 and under the reign of King George the II, III or IV) and definitely one of my favorites as well - I am guessing early 1800s (no doubt prior to 1830) and the stamp seems to indicate that it was hand cut which I recently was told was done up until 1820... Given it is in the ballpark of 200 years old and the blade still has good opening and closing snap speaks to quality (or luck that nobody ever badly abused it )... Amazingly it was local find almost 2-3 years ago... If "knives could only talk" this one would have no doubt have some great stories ... Here's some better recent photos of just that knife -

[danno50]

Thanks for the additional information, Lee. I thought that tang stamps were hand cut much later than 1820? I remember reading something about hand cut tang stamps in Gerald Witcher's book, but can't find the reference right now.
Dan

[LongBlade]

My pleasure Dan ... in terms of handcut stamps Gunsil mentioned it in another post it was pre-1820 but a in a search on Royal Warrant Marks I did see hand cut stamps were pre-1830 so the same ballpark but have not as of yet in a cursory search seen other info about hand cut stamps (here's the link to Royal Warrant Marks: http://atkinson-swords.com/marks-and-st ... -markings/ - in contrast the VcrownR quill stamp is indeed recognizable as not handcut being very uniform in appearance.

[danno50]

Lee, when you say hand cut stamp, are you referring to the tang markings on each individual blade tang being hand cut, or incised, into the tang itself? Or are you meaning that the stamping tool with which the tang was marked was hand cut? On pages 56 and 57 of Gerald Witcher's book he has a fairly long quote from an article, by Herb Aycock, from the August 1996 issue of NKCA Magazine, which states that up until the mid 1930's all steel marking tools were hand cut.
Thanks
Dan

[LongBlade]

Interesting Dan - I was talking about the hand cut being done to the stamping tool or die used as that is how it was explained to me. In addition I was only going by Gunsil's comment on the "European and other Foreign Mfg Knives" subforum that this was pre-1820 (here's the thread - viewtopic.php?f=30&t=55319 ) - nonetheless I am not sure now of the answer but I do think it is a very early knife and looking at the stamp it is indeed not as uniform as later knives that were not supposedly stamped with a handcut die - just my opinion and those who have seen the knife up close and personal ...

[danno50]

Thanks for the link, Lee. I now remember previously having read it. In order to not sidetrack this pen knife thread, I am going to start a new thread on the issue of when hand cut stamps ceased to be used. Have to go out for awhile right now, but will get it started later today.
Dan

[BWT]

Love those knives Lee, thanks for sharing.

[Sheffieldguy]

Beautiful quills ! Never payed much attention to them until I picked this Joseph Rodgers and Sons up a few weeks ago. It’s stamped W crown R which dates it between 1831 and 1837. Has great snap with a half stop.

[danno50]

Beautiful knife, Sheffieldguy! Did you find that one locally, or online?
Dan

[FRJ]

Beautiful Quill. Like it was made yesterday.

[LongBlade]

That is indeed a beauty Sheffieldguy ... Thanks for sharing it....

[Sheffieldguy]

The only thing that would say it’s not brand new is some light pitting on the blade!

[Sheffieldguy]

Picked it up on Etsy from a guy in the UK for about $55. US.

[TwoFlowersLuggage]

Sheffieldguy: LOL - I have to admit, I assumed *you* were the guy on Etsy from the UK with all the knives!!

[LongBlade]

No doubt this is a pen knife - IXL George Wostenholm Celebrated Cutlery (1850-1890 according to Goins) – 3” closed with ivory covers in a very slim congress style type frame… I did post thus under Antique Quills as I do believe it is a double end quill knife which was seen in the mid to later 1800s and double end quill knives are not often seen. Also my understanding - like this knife - is that double end quills had 2 blades of the same size without a larger master blade that differentiates it as a quill and not a pen knife in general. Check the mark vs pile sides and you can see the blades are the same size as well...