Another old British quill knife for the thread - Sheffield and certainly other regions such as London, Birmingham etc made some fine old fancy quills compared especially to the American-made quill knives (though the latter perhaps exist and I have never seen one).
W Smith - Checkered ivory quill (3 1/8” ) with rat tail bolster and coping blade - personally I am attracted to that aged old yellow/golden ivory (or bone for that matter)…. Interesting one can easily see the checkering was accomplished after the ivory covers were pinned as seen on the pins heads… Tip is slightly proud but if you see the old tophat kick at bottom of tang in tang stamp photo - no doubt looks like it was taken down abit in the past.
Background – There were a few W(illiam) Smith cutlers noted in Tweedale though only one WIliam Smith as a sole maker. The others were partners in business - eg, Smith & Hawksley). The William Smith noted was well known and worked as a cutler for 71 years – other than Stan Shaw he is depicted as the longest-serving cutler to have worked at the bench… William Smith apprenticed and worked for Joseph Rodgers & Sons his whole knife making career. He was given special mention in a celebratory publication by Joseph Rodgers & Sons in 1911 (Under Five Sovereigns). At that time at the age of 70 he had worked for Rodgers for 57 years. Thus he is “possibly but not likely” the maker unless he had a few knives at one time with his own stamp. The only other William Smith was listed in the Flook book as a London cutler with no other details. As this knife has neither Sheffield nor London marked a definitive answer is not known. In my opinion no doubt 19th century and well over one hundred years old...
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Thanks