All About Pocket Knives

I recently acquired this old ivory handle congress marked E Wild & Sons Approved Cutlery. Goins and Levine both list E Wild as an early New York maker along with other members of the Wild family.

I did some of my own research and found on the 1841 census for Broad Lane, Sheffield, England there is an Ebenezer Wild listed as a Pen knife cutler. Later an Ebenezer Wild appears on the 1850 census for Williamsburg NY and is described as a cutler. It seems that Ebenezer Wild and family might traveled back and forth to England with his family a few times. Despite it being clear he did make cutlery in New York according to the census I do wonder if this was something of a contract knife, or to what degree the knife was made in New York. Either way, this an early piece of American cutlery history.

If anyone else has an example of knives from this family, i would love to see them!

These are the seller's pics, but they were so nice I didn't bother taking new ones.

Thats a cool knife Phil. Great job on the research too.

Randy

A beautiful piece of cutlery,with the ivory,rat tailed ,threaded,and pinched bolsters,and the shield that matches frame.

Beautiful knife.

What FRJ said WOW!!

Nice knife. When I looked at the picture, the first thought that entered my mind was English made. Reading your research, my guess was that either Wild made it or had it made by someone in England. My money would be on him making it. It just doesn't look like a contract USA made knife to me. Just my opinion. ____Dave

I suspect if we could check immigration records from Ellis Island from say, 1835 through 1840 or 41, we'd find Ebenezer Wild and family to have been among.

I doubt he traveled much to and from, it wasn't exactly an easy trip in the 1800's.

If he was a Sheffield cutler that established a cutlery in New York, I would expect his earlier knives to look just like the one's he made in Sheffield, they wouldn't have become American looking just because they were made here.

Most likely, he brought most of his tools and some of the more portable machinery with him.

The knives made by Sherwood and Bingham, in Camillus, NY, had a decidedly Sheffield look to them. Both Sherwood and Bingham immigrated from England and were accomplished Sheffield based cutlers.

I have never heard of E. Wild knives from New York or anywhere else. I suspect it will be a long time before we see another.

Beautiful old knife.

Charlie Noyes

Indeed a lovely knife ... a wharncliffe blade, ivory and a congress pattern - whats there not to like

In reference to Charlie's point I think a lot of early cutleries were no doubt influenced by Sheffield in many ways - from patterns to ways in which knives were made... I think one of the reasons I like older Sheffield knives is because of the historical connection and number of immigrant makers/cutlers from Sheffield in the US in the 1800s and early 1900s who influenced knife making of many American companies.....

Hi
I know this is an old post but I hope the poster is still active
I came across it while doing a bit of Genealogy.
Ebenezer Wild is my great great great grandfather. He was born in Sheffield in 1796 and emigrated to New York in 1843 with some of his family. His son Charles stayed behind and had a family and that is who I am decended from in my Father's side.
I am so amazed that a pocket knife made by him is still in existence and it's absolutely amazing to see an actual photo graph of it. If you found out anything more info I would be delighted to hear.
Thanks

yorkshiregirl73 wrote:Hi
I know this is an old post but I hope the poster is still active
I came across it while doing a bit of Genealogy.
Ebenezer Wild is my great great great grandfather. He was born in Sheffield in 1796 and emigrated to New York in 1843 with some of his family. His son Charles stayed behind and had a family and that is who I am decended from in my Father's side.
I am so amazed that a pocket knife made by him is still in existence and it's absolutely amazing to see an actual photo graph of it. If you found out anything more info I would be delighted to hear.
Thanks

Wow yorkshiregirl, that is some interesting information. Glad for you that you have a little extra history to go with your research. Good luck with your further studies.

Hi yorkshiregirl73

Thanks for posting your relationship to Ebenezer Wild ... as you can tell from the post it seems the knives from E Wild are rare - at least this may be the only one on this website... just a little perspective for you but the cutlery industry here in America really started in earnest not long before in the earlier 1840s and many of our cutleries were started and heavily influenced by Sheffield emigrants coming over the “pond”.. Guess you don’t have any photos of him which may not be surprising given the time period... you asked about the original post for this thread - looks like Another Knife Collector hasn’t been online since January but he may look in so stay tuned... we occasionally get descendants of old cutlers but not often - thanks for your post!!

i had one many years ago...small congress ivory or bone about 1.5 inches long--with small blade broke 50% off....never seen another in person..

Another Knife Collector wrote:I recently acquired this old ivory handle congress marked E Wild & Sons Approved Cutlery. Goins and Levine both list E Wild as an early New York maker along with other members of the Wild family.

I did some of my own research and found on the 1841 census for Broad Lane, Sheffield, England there is an Ebenezer Wild listed as a Pen knife cutler. Later an Ebenezer Wild appears on the 1850 census for Williamsburg NY and is described as a cutler. It seems that Ebenezer Wild and family might traveled back and forth to England with his family a few times. Despite it being clear he did make cutlery in New York according to the census I do wonder if this was something of a contract knife, or to what degree the knife was made in New York. Either way, this an early piece of American cutlery history.

If anyone else has an example of knives from this family, i would love to see them!

These are the seller's pics, but they were so nice I didn't bother taking new ones.

Maybe we can get his attention.