ENGLISH, 17TH CENTURY AND LATER

Details

A Group Of Five Table-Knives
English, 17th Century and later
The first with tapering drop-pointed blade with bolster encrusted with silver cherub-masks, flowers and pellets (rubbed), struck with the mark of a pair of tongs, and agate handle of polygonal section with a silver rosette-shaped tang-washer; the second with scimitar blade struck with an unidentified maker's mark, and agate handle of flattened octagonal section with beaked top and silver ferrule; the third with scimitar blade with ball and disc bolster, stamp of 'Primus Isaac Ellis Sheffield', and green agate handle of fluted circular section with silver ferrule; the fourth made for a child, with scimitar blade and tapering blue john handle; the last in excavated condition, with straight blade struck with the mark of a pair of tongs, and tapering polished wooden handle
43/8in. (11.2cm.) to 101/8in. (25.8cm.) (5)

Provenance

(The last) Queenhithe, London

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The mark of a pair of tongs on the blades of the first and last pieces was granted successively to five members of the London Cutlers' Company between 1606 and 1675. It is difficult to be certain to which of these the knives should be ascribed, though the first is probably John Arnold (1606). The firm whose name appears on the blade of the third knife was founded in 1781 and survived in Sheffield until 1932; its trade-mark 'Primus' first appears in advertisements in 1868.
See S. Moore, Cutlery for the Table, 1999, p. 291; G. Tweedale, The Sheffield Knife Book, 1996, p, 191

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