All About Pocket Knives

Hallo everyone! In 1970 I bought a knife with silverclad handle in Abu Dhabi (see attached photos). The blade is stamped G♔R, JOSEPH RODGERS & SONS, CUTLER TO HIS MAJESTY, SHEFFIELD *✠ ENGLAND. It must therefore have been made during the reigns of George IV (1820-1830), George V (1910-1936) or George VI (1936-1952), and the fact that the stamp mentions England indicates that it was made after 1891, but is it possible to narrow it further down? As you can see on the photo the stamp is made two times, slightly misplaced. How can that be explained? Was it made on a machine or by hand? Comments would be appreciated.

It is 20th century, either of the last two Georges. The stamp although double stamped is a machine made stamp. The "England" in the mark definitely shows this knife as made after 1891.

I was wondering if the shape of the crown or any other small detail might narrow the dating?
Is it not remarkable that there is only one star in the stamp and two Maltese crosses? Perhaps the stamp used the first time had lost its star? Could that be the reason why a second stamping was made?

Sadly, there is no way to narrow the date down. Actually the two last Georges didn't reign that long so you have a fairly narrow window that it was made. Victoria ruled longer than those two combined and there is no way of knowing if a VR marked knife was made in the 1840s or 1880s. The double stamp is a manufacturing mistake, it was not double stamped on purpose, you are reading too much into it. Also, knives are not like coins, mistakes in stampings are not sought after. You can figure it was not made during wartimes since it has no military connection so that takes away a bunch of years it could have been made. It is a kitchen/table knife and there aren't a lot of folks who collect them.

I agree with what Gunsil said.

I would add that the handle wrapped with wire is crudely done, not up to the standards of Rodgers.
It appears to be an old repair that was made so the knife could continue to be used.

Sorry, I should have explained. The handle is decorated with silvertread, made somewhere along the shores of the Arabian peninsula. The original handle is yellowish and probably bone/ivory.

to AAPK, Judge! Good information!

judgeprog wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2024 1:19 am G♔R” refers to the royal cipher of the reigning monarch, which helps narrow down the time range. The stamp could correspond to either George V (1910-1936) or George VI (1936-1952), but it almost certainly doesn’t refer to George IV (1820-1830), as he didn’t have a cipher with this symbol

Hello and Welcome to the AAPK. We're glad that both you & Buraimi came!

Thanks to judgeprog for valuable information!

judgeprog wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2024 1:19 am G♔R” refers to the royal cipher of the reigning monarch, which helps narrow down the time range. The stamp could correspond to either George V (1910-1936) or George VI (1936-1952), but it almost certainly doesn’t refer to George IV (1820-1830), as he didn’t have a cipher with this symbol

Do you know when they started using the Royal cypher? I was under the impression it had always been in use. I have a Congreve quill knife from the King William era(1830-1837) that has the cypher.

A typological study of the design of the crown in the royal cipher is needed to solve this dating problem!