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French? pique work ivory quill knife mid 1800's
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 10:55 am
by GerryD
Hi
I picked this up at and auction in the UK and its giving me problems identifying the makers mark. I hope someone on here has seen it before and can help
GerryD
Re: French? pique work ivory quill knife mid 1800's
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 1:44 pm
by cato
NICE, FIND ...
AND WELCOME TO THE COMMUNITY ,,
I have run across that somewhere reading, its a DRAGON FLY ,not sure who made it
looking to see if, i can find it....
someone will be by with more info, and to say WELCOME
CATO
Re: French? pique work ivory quill knife mid 1800's
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 6:01 pm
by knife7knut
What a magnificent little gunstock pattern knife! The pique work is spectacular and likely dates to around 1840-1850. There seems to have been a very narrow time period when this was popular. I have a couple of straight razors and a pearl fruit knife of that period that exhibit pique work.
The mark is unfamiliar to me but here is a link to a French knife forum that shows a ton of maker's marks from about the 1600's on up. It is in French but there are English translations in the marks section which is the fifth section listed on the home page.
If that were mine I would be torn between leaving it as is or attempting a restoration of the ivory.
www.couteaux-jfl.com/boite_a_outils.htm
Re: French? pique work ivory quill knife mid 1800's
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 7:13 pm
by GerryD
knife7knut wrote:What a magnificent little gunstock pattern knife! The pique work is spectacular and likely dates to around 1840-1850. There seems to have been a very narrow time period when this was popular. I have a couple of straight razors and a pearl fruit knife of that period that exhibit pique work.
The mark is unfamiliar to me but here is a link to a French knife forum that shows a ton of maker's marks from about the 1600's on up. It is in French but there are English translations in the marks section which is the fifth section listed on the home page.
If that were mine I would be torn between leaving it as is or attempting a restoration of the ivory.
http://www.couteaux-jfl.com/boite_a_outils.htm
Thanks fro your post "knife7knut" I've looked at the site and translated with Bing but no luck some run very close though. I've thought about the damaged scale but as of now I haven't had any luck in either matching the age colour or if it does match its been too short but I will try at some time because the blade wants to go up beside the spring.
gerry
Re: French? pique work ivory quill knife mid 1800's new imag
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2016 8:37 am
by GerryD
I'm still trying to keep this alive as I'm having no luck with the Ivory pique at all so any help would be appreciated. I've added this quill just to make it worth while having a look. I'm sure you will know its a quill and paper folder scorer from mid 1800's. its stamped Bishop. I bought this and the pique knife at the same time for about £20.
Gerry
Re: French? pique work ivory quill knife mid 1800's
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2016 2:44 pm
by knife7knut
Interesting! I have a couple of similar ones;one of which is made of pearl and the other is ivory and tortoise shell.Neither have I been able to identify. On yours is the letter opener supposed to fold? Both of mine have fixed letter openers.
Re: French? pique work ivory quill knife mid 1800's
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2016 5:27 pm
by GerryD
Yes the letter opener or paper folder is designed to fold, I have others that like yours Knife7 that stay open.
Can you make the tang photos clearer or tell me what you think is stamped on them?
Here's a C Vicker but with help it turns out to be a JC Vickery of London and a retailer at that.
Gerry