MINTY UNSHARPENED UNCARRIED 5 BLADE FILEWORKED GOLDPLATED EXHIBITION KNIFE 1860s

Description: MINTY UNSHARPENED UNCARRIED 5 BLADE FILEWORKED GOLDPLATED EXHIBITION KNIFE 1860s MINTY UNSHARPENED, UNCARRIED, 5 BLADED FILE WORKED GOLD PLATED EXHIBITION QUALITY POCKET KNIFE BY DENNIS TURNER / SHEFFIELD Exhibition knives were created by Master Cutlers only to be displayed, then retired to the factory collections. These knives were made for quality, beauty, display, culture, and posterity; and never intended for sale or use. They were show pieces for Exhibitions, display and to compete in Cutlery competitions for gold and silver medals. On rare occasions, a similar, usually unadorned knife pattern could be custom made to order for a wealthy patron. This Exhibition quality piece would have been deaccessioned by the firm after the demise of the Cutlery Expositions, acquired in a merger or bankruptcy, sold into the market, or presented to an esteemed colleague or gifted to a friend or business associate. In the Victorian era it was quite fashionable for a Gentlemen of means to carry a fancy pocketknife as a necessary accessory and present it in Victorian flourish to show off when used; much like a fancy pocket watch, snuff box, cigar case or match safe accoutrement. There does not appear to be any recorded history of the cutler Dennis Turner / Sheffield. Although it is common for cutlery families to promulgate their craft within their immediate or extended families, there does not seem to be any recorded family connection or association to any of the well-known or lesser-known Turner cutlery families. During the 1800’s there were thousands of cutlery firms, as well as mergers, acquisitions and buy outs with many short-lived firms and associations. It has been suggested that only 10% of Sheffield cutlers are published in some form outside the directories found in Sheffield. Regardless of the lack of written provenance, this Exhibition knife is testament to one of the many obscure and unheralded Artisans exhibiting the exquisite handmade Craftsmanship that could only be achieved by a Sheffield Master Cutler. This knife is completely handmade, i.e., hand forged, hand ground, hand tempered, hand polished and hand fitted using only simple hand tools; and created by a Master Cutler. Overall, 3 1/2" long closed x 1/2" thick x ½” tall and weighs 2.2 ounces or 63 grams. This is an extremely high quality, minty condition, unused, uncarried, 5 bladed Sheffield made bolster less Exhibition quality pocketknife Maker marked Dennis Turner / Sheffield. This Presentation quality pocketknife was made in Sheffield, the knife capitol of the world at the time, and for hundreds of years prior. This superb pocketknife is bolsterless, i.e., there are no metal bolsters at the pivot pins to support the blades. This bolsterless style was preferred by pocketknife Master Cutlers who were demonstrating their skill to set blade pins flush in delicate scale material; an art form that could only be accomplished by an experienced Master fitter. The uninscribed silver escutcheon plate and silver pins are characteristics only found on Exhibition knives that were never intended for use. The 3 pins are soft silver, used to assemble the knife so as to not risk shattering the Exhibition Mother of Pearls scales; yet allow the knife to open and close as a production knife made for use. The Exhibition quality Mother of Pearl scales are individually created by nature; and these patterns, colors and iridescence is revered by advanced collectors. The scales have 4 shallow, easy opener cutout indentations to access the blade nicks. All-natural material shrinks over time, which is perfectly normal on an Antique knife; but these scales have no chips, nicks, pin cracks or damage. Almost all pocketknives show wear to the delicate scales and have surface scratches that can dull the appearance to the surface when a knife is carried and rubbed inside a pocket over time. These select scales have only extremely light handling surface scratches that can be seen with a loupe, with naturally occurring patterns and a beautiful multi color iridescence found on pearl before the oceans became polluted. This demonstrates the knife has been very lightly carried and then put up. The backsprings are Exhibition hand file worked on the outside and gold plated on both the inside and outside, with all the gold remaining intact. The 2 outside backsprings have identical file work in a serpentine pattern with gold plating inside the recessed flutes. The middle outside backspring was left as polished steel for contrast and was never gold plated and has small spots of naturally occurring spidering on the outside backspring that take a century to form and could be cleaned to remove the black coloration; however, I have left them in original, as found untouched condition as they denote genuine aging. All 4 liners are milled, and the outside back springs inside the knife are gold plated, with all the finish intact. The inside middle pair of liners inside the knife are fancily hand scalloped. Note that the filing weakens the backsprings, and so the spring temper has to accommodate for the removed steel and still retain the correct amount of spring tension. Note there is no need to oil the blade / backspring pivot slots and should not be done as oil can leak into the liners and permanently discolor the Exhibition Mother of Pearl. Although the blades snap open, are tight with no wiggle, and all have good snap when closing; you do not want to snap the blades shut on a mint Exhibition knife as it is possible the blade could bottom out on the inside backspring and chip or bend the knife edge or rub the blade on the inside liner or another blade and create a rub mark. All of the 4 blade backs are Exhibition file worked, en suite with the outside backspring pattern and all 4 blades are unsharpened with all of the luster of the orginal crocus of iron polish. All 4 blades have the long pull nail nick that goes through the ricasso, and the blades tops all have a swedge grind halfway back from the tips; both features found on early pocketknives. All 1800s knives will have some telltale signs of aging. The extreme age of the steel blades must be taken into consideration in any old 150+ year old knife. Spidering is a naturally occurring aging that takes a century to create that shows genuine antique aging on a mint knife that otherwise looks like it was made yesterday. Almost all 1800s knives will show some small, random, scattered spots of spidering and natural age spots. All 5 of the blades (including the scissors) have all of the original distinctive mirror Crocus of Iron final polish of the blades; a high-quality signature polish used by Sheffield Cutlers on fine 19th century handmade knives. This final polish was done on wooden wheel with a leather band coated with adhesive and exceptionally fine black powder that was painstakingly applied to almost all Sheffield blades. Three of the 4 knife blades are mint, the quill, pen and manicure blades. The Master blade and scissors have tiny spots of spidering on one side, and small spots of spidering on the obverse, with some of the orginal black coloration remaining that have been left in untouched condition. The file worked 2 3/16” Master blade is hot stamped DENNIS TURNER on one side of the ricasso, and SHEFFIELD on the obverse. This knife does not have the England hot stamping found on Sheffield knives made for export beginning in 1891. The Master blade is in mint condition with a few tiny spots of naturally occurring spidering one side near the ricasso that are intact and untouched. The file worked 1 5/8" long pen blade is mint with all of the original polish, long pull, and only the Maker mark. The 1 3/4” manicure blade has the early style a long pull nail nick that goes through the ricasso. The tip of the blade is sharpened like a knife blade with only the Maker mark and a small, curved knife edge at the tip. The 2 5/8” long scissors are especially difficult to hand forge, grind, and align the blades, yet this pair cuts paper as new. This pair has all of the original polish with scattered spots of naturally occurring spidering and one small patch of spidering on one of the scissors blade flats that still has a small spot of black spidering intact. The file worked 1 5/8" quill blade is mint with all of the original polish, long pull, and only the Maker mark. It is sometimes hard to date a pocketknife with no history on the Maker. However, Exhibition knives tend to be early and made for Cutlery Exhibitions that mostly occurred beginning with the 1851 London Exposition. And having a quill blade used to sharpen goose quills for gentleman who knew how to read and write was only fashionable for a few decades after pocket metal dip pens were introduced in the 1830’s. Thus, I would estimate this piece to date from the 1850’s – 1870s. Note that it is extremely difficult to photograph shiny, reflective blades to get the actual appearance of the original crocus of iron polish, and I took many dozens of images to try to eliminate shadows and capture the blade details. Also note the images are many times larger than actual size and exaggerate the details. This a Connoisseur quality, investment grade handmade 1800’s 5 bladed Gentleman's pocketknife made by a Master Cutler, that is in mint overall condition, and in pristine mint condition save the spots on the scissors and minuscule age spots on the master blade. Ask a modern maker if he could hand make a knife like this using only simple hand tools; and what would he charge? This completely handmade Master Cutlery example is a lost art; and would be an excellent investment, and perfect for any Connoisseur Sheffield, 1800s, pocketknife, 19th century or smalls collection. 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Price: 1750 USD

Location: Fairfield, California

End Time: 2025-01-13T23:54:03.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD