Silver Fruit Knives A Golden Age

[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

[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.