A knife from my great great grandfather.

Jiki

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I arrived home this evening to an unexpected package from my mother, who has been spending her pandemic time going through her house organizing. I closed in the package was several letters from members of my Dad's family and several pocket knives. The knife that I am going to share with you in this thread had it's own letter from my Great Aunt Bess. The letter was written 1/8/1970. She explains that she received the knife from her grandfather 70 years prior (1900) and it was given to him when he was a boy. It was given to him by a gentleman who he ran errands for. The gentleman was a frequent traveler to Europe according to the letter.

If anyone has information on this knife or can point me in the right direction to look it would be appreciated.
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Looks like it could be a fruit knife
That's interesting, what brings you to that opinion? It certainly is not as long as what we would consider to be a fruit knife today. It is about 3½ inches closed.
 
I think the last figure in the hallmark stamp should be the mfg year? Meanwhile, the OP referred to what he thought were modern fruit knives. Those knives are variously called melon, fruit or sausage testers or samplers but they should never be called fruit knives. The OP knife is a fruit knife in its most definitive form, a perfect example. They were very popular at one time but they had pretty much died out by World War Two, if I am not mistaken. I am supposing that the silver blade was intended to not impart a "steel" flavor to food. I think the one narrow odd blade was to flick seeds out of apples? I am sure some more knowledgeable collectors can amplify on these thoughts.
 
Assuming its English made by the Birmingham anchor......seems to me there is either something wrong with those marks or the knife isn't as old as its claimed to be....If that was an late 19th or 20th century sterling fruit knife it would have at least 4 hallmark stamps - a standard mark that indicates sterling, a city mark, a date code that should be a letter, and a makers stamp. There may be a duty mark also.
Need better clear close-ups of the stampings.....

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I am also curious as to why lion seems to be facing right when all the examples seem to face left.
 
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