A Rare Knife from 1807, and a Mystery Too

[deo-pa]

This mother of pearl fruit knife with a sterling silver blade is hardly worth a second look. It's small (2-7/8"), plus the blade doesn't fully seat and the blade also has some deep scratches. I would usually take a pass on buying a knife like this, despite its nice banded silver bolster, silver rivets, and tooled back spring sleeve. However, one tiny feature on one of the silver hallmarks marks this knife as both very old and very rare.

The knife blade has two silver hallmarks. The first hallmark is the King George III head duty mark, indicating it was made during his reign of 1760-1820 (he is the monarch that lost the American colonies). The second hallmark is the famous Lion Passant (meaning the lion passing/walking by) which indicates an object is sterling silver.

The 4th photo below shows the normal appearance of the lion hallmark and the 5th photo shows the hallmark on this knife. Though the hallmark is worn, you can see this lion is wearing a crown. (The 6th photo shows a less worn version of the crowned lion from a reference book.)

Research in England has shown the crowned lion hallmark only appeared in the Sheffield assay office for a part of the year in 1807, and was never seen again. It has only been found on a small number of objects, fruit knives being one of them.

The mystery is that even though the assay offices in English cities usually kept excellent records, there is no record of the crowned lion hallmark in Sheffield and no one knows how or why it came about. If you happen to own the book Pocket Fruit Knives by Simon Moore you can read about the mystery on page 121.

It is neat to own such a rare object that is almost 220 years old, though the knife would never win any beauty contests. But then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Dennis

[edgy46]

WOW!!

[FRJ]

This mother of pearl fruit knife with a sterling silver blade is hardly worth a second look. It's small (2-7/8"), plus the blade doesn't fully seat and the blade also has some deep scratches. I would usually take a pass on buying a knife like this, despite its nice banded silver bolster, silver rivets, and tooled back spring sleeve. However, one tiny feature on one of the silver hallmarks marks this knife as both very old and very rare.

The knife blade has two silver hallmarks. The first hallmark is the King George III head duty mark, indicating it was made during his reign of 1760-1820 (he is the monarch that lost the American colonies). The second hallmark is the famous Lion Passant (meaning the lion passing/walking by) which indicates an object is sterling silver.

The 4th photo below shows the normal appearance of the lion hallmark and the 5th photo shows the hallmark on this knife. Though the hallmark is worn, you can see this lion is wearing a crown. (The 6th photo shows a less worn version of the crowned lion from a reference book.)

Research in England has shown the crowned lion hallmark only appeared in the Sheffield assay office for a part of the year in 1807, and was never seen again. It has only been found on a small number of objects, fruit knives being one of them.

The mystery is that even though the assay offices in English cities usually kept excellent records, there is no record of the crowned lion hallmark in Sheffield and no one knows how or why it came about. If you happen to own the book Pocket Fruit Knives by Simon Moore you can read about the mystery on page 121.

It is neat to own such a rare object that is almost 220 years old, though the knife would never win any beauty contests. But then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Dennis

What a nice knife you have Dennis.
What's really nice is that you were aware of the marks and didn't dismiss the knife out of not knowing. Good eye!
Now I'm going to look at my fruit knives.

[garddogg56]

Beautiful

[deo-pa]

What's really nice is that you were aware of the marks and didn't dismiss the knife out of not knowing.

Thanks for your comment but you give me too much credit Joe. The person I bought it from knew exactly what he had and described it in his listing... and I paid accordingly because I doubt I'll ever see another one.

Dennis

[1967redrider]

Very cool, old knife. Thanks for posting.

King George III was the Mad King, prompting a Prince Regent.

[stockman]

That’s a good one. Very pretty knife. Harold

[doglegg]

Great knife, great history .

[Dinadan]

Great post, Dennis. Very interesting and informative.

[glennbad]

That's a nice one, Dennis. I see a lot of fruit knives out there, and don't really collect them, but many are quite ornate and some are rare also.

Great find!

[MissouriGuerrilla]

Niiiiice! That bad boy would be in a glass case like a museum piece.

[bighomer]

Beautiful knife, great history thanks for posting.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Based on my extensive research, I can categorically state that knife belonged to General Cornwallis.

He was slicing fruit with it while Washington was advancing on Yorktown.

You should value that highly.

Never trust anything I say when I’m in this frame of mind.

[SwedgeHead]

Based on my extensive research, I can categorically state that knife belonged to General Cornwallis.

He was slicing fruit with it while Washington was advancing on Yorktown.

You should value that highly.

Never trust anything I say when I’m in this frame of mind.

Mel Gibson was there and he is not amused.

Mel.png (31.09 KiB) Viewed 348 times

[PA Knives]

I absolutely love knife history like this. Thank you for posting it and the story. I personally think its beautiful. But then again I REALLY LIKE KNIVES

[wlf]

A very valuable post Dennis , I enjoyed it. Fruit knives are like people, they didn't get a lot of substance, but they are very easy to look at.

[deo-pa]

Based on my extensive research, I can categorically state that knife belonged to General Cornwallis

Mel Gibson was there and he is not amused.

I'm afraid your research is a bit off RobesonsRme and Swedgehead, as old Mel was around in 1776 and Cornwallis surrendered in 1781, quite a few years before the crowned lion knife was made. Nonetheless, I'm going to cite your research as the gospel truth because having such historical connections makes it more valuable to the next guy who wants it. Thanks guys!

Dennis

[btrwtr]

Great little knife Dennis. Thanks for sharing this rare piece and history with us!

[deo-pa]

Thank you for posting it and the story. I personally think its beautiful. But then again I REALLY LIKE KNIVES

Thank you PA Knives. As I said, with its flaws I don't think it will win any beauty contests... because after all the knife has been used as intended for 200 years. I wonder how many fruit it has peeled and sliced for it owners?

The image below summarizes how I feel about the knife and its flaws.

Dennis