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A. Davy & Sons Dirk Knife? Perhaps the knife of John Wilkes Booth (jk)
Posted: Sun May 25, 2025 1:15 am
by The Little Things
Hello fellow knife enthusiasts,
I am having some issues identifying my new relic. Really scoured the internet for this one, but was hoping the collection of many heads could yield some results. There is a swing guard missing. My guess is a A. Davy & Sons, but its been tough since I havent been able to find any stag made knives and I only have 1/5th of the tang left. Appears to Have ---- ons [over] ----nge [over] sheffield, four line tang. See the attached photos.
Re: A. Davy & Sons Dirk Knife? Perhaps the knife of John Wilkes Booth (jk)
Posted: Sun May 25, 2025 1:28 am
by Gunsil
Very hard to tell maker with so much missing. There were literally hundreds of Sheffield firms making similar knives. The knife J W Wilkes used to stab Major Rathbone was a fixed blade by William Jackson with an 8" blade.
Re: A. Davy & Sons Dirk Knife? Perhaps the knife of John Wilkes Booth (jk)
Posted: Sun May 25, 2025 2:07 am
by The Little Things
A dirk lock-knife marked ‘A. Davy & Sons’ was found on the body of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, after he had been cornered and shot (Newman, 1998 1, Taylor, 2013 2). In the directory advertisement for 1864, Davy’s trademark was ‘I. D. FY.’
Re: A. Davy & Sons Dirk Knife? Perhaps the knife of John Wilkes Booth (jk)
Posted: Sun May 25, 2025 11:16 am
by bestgear
The Little Things wrote: ↑Sun May 25, 2025 2:07 am
A dirk lock-knife marked ‘A. Davy & Sons’ was found on the body of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, after he had been cornered and shot (Newman, 1998 1, Taylor, 2013 2). In the directory advertisement for 1864, Davy’s trademark was ‘I. D. FY.’
I always thought that John Wilkes Booth used a WM Jackson & Co. Rio Grande camp knife circa 1860 like the one below to attack Major Henry Rathbone after shooting President Lincoln.
Re: A. Davy & Sons Dirk Knife? Perhaps the knife of John Wilkes Booth (jk)
Posted: Sun May 25, 2025 11:37 am
by btrwtr
A. Davey and Sons Exchange Works Sheffield would be my best guess as well. Too bad that the cleaning may have taken some of the readable stamp with it.