Vintage Bowie, Sheffield, Dirk and other related Knives

[Beechtree]

Here are a few old bowie knives. It would be great to see others.

First is a G Wostenholm & Son Washington Works Sheffield that dates to sometime between the late 1840's to the late 1860s. It has a one piece nickel silver handle and escutcheon, with stag scales. The blade is 8 3/8" and amazingly still retains some of its original crocus polish.

Next is a Joseph Rodgers & Sons from the turn of the century. The blade proudly states "Hand Forged And Hand Ground" as well as "Bowie". The blade is thick at 1/4". The sheath is original.

Third is a J. Rogers & Sons from the 1890s or 1900s. It has wonderful stag scales. The blade is a full 8 3/4". The leather sheath is original and bares a nickel silver tip and frog.

Lastly is a knife by AlexR(Alexander) Paterson with the letters F and W on opposite sides of Sheffield, standing for Forthworks(?). This knife dates to the 1850s and has an 7 1/8" double edged dirk blade. It has stag scales and a dumbbell guard. A similar knife is pictured in K.J. Burton's A Sure Defence The Bowie Knife Book.

[danno50]

Beautiful old bowies, Beechtree. wish I had some I could post.
Dan

[orvet]

Those are beauties!

[Miller Bro's]

Very nice!

Here is an old Underwood Bowie.

[tjmurphy]

WOW!!! Those are Grrrrrrrrrrrr8!! Wish I had some like that

[wlf]

Tom beat me to it Beech,WOW...... Amazing and expensive knives. Thanks for sharing them.

[dcgm4]

WOW!!! Those are some gorgeous knives. Thanks for showing them.

[Mason]

Wonderful old Sheffield examples Beechtree and M.B. !!!
Here is a small pre WWII German dirk with "Pal Brand" etched on the blade. It has a marked sterling silver bezel between the pearl handle and nickel silver hand guard and was made by "Kraus" in Germany.

[Beechtree]

Thanks all.

MB, that is an old looking Underwood. Is the false edge sharpened?

Great dirk Mason, the etch is interesting and the mother of pearl is very nice.

[Miller Bro's]

MB, that is an old looking Underwood. Is the false edge sharpened?

Yes, it is quite sharp.

This is another oldie, I like the pearl discs set into the horn handles and the pearl bolsters!

[FRJ]

Beechtree, those knives are just beautiful. So much fun to look at. I'm glad you showed them.

Dimitri and Mason, your knives are very easy on the eyes as well.
Beautiful knives guys.

[knife7knut]

Here's a couple I posted before:
Joseph Rodgers spear point(9" blade)bowie circa 1880.
Manhattan Cutlery Co clip point(7 1/4" blade)bowie circa 1890.
M.Cromwell Criterion spear point(4 3/4" blade)bowie hunter circa 1890.
Alfred Williams(EBRO)double edged dagger(4" blade)with ivory handle circa 1890.
Unmarked double edged(4 3/4" blade)with ivory handle circa 1900.
Cogwell & Harrison(London gunsmiths)double edged dagger(about 6 1/2" blade)circa 1900.

[Beechtree]

Dimitri, the peal bolsters are something else. I like everything about that knife, from the dirk blade to the horn handles and great original sheath. Thanks for sharing it.

K7K, these are very nice knives. Of course I like the Rodgers, but the great condition ivory handled dirks are surely eye catching. The Cogswell & Harrison is quite unique. The S guard harkens back to earlier bowies. Also, the handle seems somewhat thick compared to the blade, but surely it feels good in the hand.

[knife7knut]

K7K, these are very nice knives. Of course I like the Rodgers, but the great condition ivory handled dirks are surely eye catching. The Cogswell & Harrison is quite unique. The S guard harkens back to earlier bowies. Also, the handle seems somewhat thick compared to the blade, but surely it feels good in the hand.

Thank you sir. The Rodgers I found quite by accident.Long story but it was hidden under a bunch of other stuff in an antique shop.I was looking at some pocket knives and the person asked if I liked bowies.I figured he had some modern piece until he dragged it out.Wound up getting it for $225(about 10 years ago).Very little sharpening and the stag is flawless.
Sadly the ivory dork with the ball end crossguard has a crack down the length of the handle.I fused it with clear epoxy to keep it from spreading.The blade is mint and it was a gift from a friend.
The C&H I've owned for 30 years or more.Came out of a huge military collection.The handle looks like a carving set handle with a silver cap on the end.Feels very comfortable to hold.Finish on the blade looks a lot like case hardening on a rifle receiver.Not surprising for a gunsmith.The company I believe is still in business making high end rifles and shotguns.

[Miller Bro's]

Dimitri and Mason, your knives are very easy on the eyes as well.
Beautiful knives guys.

Thank you Joe!

[Beechtree]

K7K, it is neat to hear about how you acquired these. It seems that ivory is very prone to cracks with age, sadly. I would also imagine that the C&H must be quite rare.

Here is a shot of bowie to go with your coffee.
A modern William Rogers Sheffield England exhibition bowie with stag handles and three etchings: "THE UNITED STATES the land of the free and the HOME of the BRAVE protected by her noble and brave VOLUNTERS", An Eagle, and "AMERICANS ask for nothing what is Right and submit to nothing that is WRONG", all set in a floral motif.
I don't know the date for this, anytime from the 1920s to 1970s. The casting for the german silver horse head is quite nice, as is the stag. This was around the price of a fixed blade Buck knife as it was being sold as a "reproduction".

[knife7knut]

K7K, it is neat to hear about how you acquired these. It seems that ivory is very prone to cracks with age, sadly. I would also imagine that the C&H must be quite rare.

Here is a shot of bowie to go with your coffee.
A modern William Rogers Sheffield England exhibition bowie with stag handles and three etchings: "THE UNITED STATES the land of the free and the HOME of the BRAVE protected by her noble and brave VOLUNTERS", An Eagle, and "AMERICANS ask for nothing what is Right and submit to nothing that is WRONG", all set in a floral motif.
I don't know the date for this, anytime from the 1920s to 1970s. The casting for the german silver horse head is quite nice, as is the stag. This was around the price of a fixed blade Buck knife as it was being sold as a "reproduction".

The knife you posted is identical(except for the stamp)to one that I bought back in the 1980's and was attributed to Fred James.It came with the original pasteboard sheath and had some,"forced patina" on the blade.I showed it to Jim Taylor and he was the one who identified it.Jim had written and article for Knife World many years ago on Fred James and knew him personally when he lived in England.In fact one of the same knives was pictured in his article.
As I recall it Fred worked for Rogers-Wostenholm many years ago and during the 1960's he created some of these horsehead bowies with the I*XL trademark.I believe he had some original Wostenholm die stamps. Some of them were stamped James and Lowe Sheffield and others with the I*XL stamp and some were unstamped.Mine is the unstamped version.I remember Jim saying it was a bit unusual to find one with the sheath as they were very fragile and easily destroyed.
I paid $300 for it which was a lot of money for me at the time but Jim said that was a fair price for it and I took him at his word. I haven't seen one for sale since so I don't know what the going rate is at present. Here is a pic of mine.

[knife7knut]

Here are a couple of I*XL folding dirks.

[orvet]

Nice Ray!
I love that old IXL stag!

[Beechtree]

K7K, thanks for the information. I also like to see the sheath as mine is lacking and they are rare. This is a similar story as I have heard before about the time period of creation of these knives, and I have seen a few different stampings. It would be good to know more information on William Rogers during this time period and the master cutlers employed. You have a great display of knives there

[Beechtree]

Here are a few more old knives.

James Westa
Lord St.
Sheffield
7" with stag table cutlery style handle. The blade is stamped "O.K". I have seen this "O.K." marking before on some other knives. In an April 85' National Knife Magazine a reader writes in and shows a Manson-Sheffield bowie with "O.K." on the blade. He goes on to say that it is a catch phase from the 1840's Democratic party. It is an interesting mark, wherever it comes from. This knife dates to the 1860's civil war era and the hand stitched sheath appears to be original.

S.W. Silver & Co.
Sheffield
8" blade with stag handle. The blade and stag are very fine. The sheath of this knife is not original but is very nicely made. In K.J. Burton's "A Sure Defense The bowie Knife Book" there is a nice S.W. Silver & Co, Cornhill and Old Bond St., London, Circa 1875, although I have no date for the knife shown here.

[knife7knut]

BEAUTIFUL old knives! Thank you for posting them.

[Ramrod]

Agreed! Beautiful.
If those two don't light your fire, your woods wet.
Mark

[Mason]

Here are a few more old knives.

James Westa
Lord St.
Sheffield
7" with stag table cutlery style handle. The blade is stamped "O.K". I have seen this "O.K." marking before on some other knives. In an April 85' National Knife Magazine a reader writes in and shows a Manson-Sheffield bowie with "O.K." on the blade. He goes on to say that it is a catch phase from the 1840's Democratic party. It is an interesting mark, wherever it comes from. This knife dates to the 1860's civil war era and the hand stitched sheath appears to be original.

S.W. Silver & Co.
Sheffield
8" blade with stag handle. The blade and stag are very fine. The sheath of this knife is not original but is very nicely made. In K.J. Burton's "A Sure Defense The bowie Knife Book" there is a nice S.W. Silver & Co, Cornhill and Old Bond St., London, Circa 1875, although I have no date for the knife shown here.

Very nice Bowie examples, thanks for the pictures.

[knife-nut]

Wow!! The stag on that S.W. Silver & Co. bowie makes me drool. Love it.