Possibly an old Sheffield Bowie, or maybe a remake, but, nicely made!...

To answer your question about your Joseph Rogers. We know the sheath with the stitching up the middle started on these hunting knives around the 1880’s and your knife is marked England making it a turn of the century knife. The early Sheffield sheathes were not stitched and were wrapped with Moroccan leather over basically card board. So your knife with the tang that tapers to the end...is really a hunting knife.
 
With a handle that tapers toward the end it is a bowie-style hunter, which came after the real bowie knives. According to BRL, these started showing up around 1870, IIRC.
 
Thanks for the input, guys.
As for it's possible oldest age, the J. Rogers & Sons firm is said to have sold off their 6 Norfolk location by 1929, so that would place this knife no later than that. That makes my "Bowie hunter knife" a minimum of 91 years old. I'd say even if it's only that "young", it's done an okay job overall in surviving in decent condition :)
I have a J. Rogers & Sons straight shaving razor with Buffalo Horn handle scales that is estimated to have been made towards the end of the 1800's, and now it will have this sibling to share it's home with. I have read great things about this old firm, and having representations of it, puts a smile on my face :)

Thanks again for all the input :)
 
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skilledhunter said:
Here is one of mine. Original polish made in the 1840’s it’s an early Rockingham works I*XL




Click to expand...

Interesting markings on the blade (stamped?) The hunting scene is particularly instructive, must be evidence that it was aimed at the American market or to Americana fans in England (were there such things in the 1840s?;)) The huntsman, appears to be not in traditional English or contemporary European hunting garb, but in Cowboy attire judging by the hat and firing at the Stag whilst mounted. No apostrophe on Hunter's /Hunters' either.
 
Will power... Its what we call a ciphered Bowie knife. This is a hunting scene depicted on the blade. Very rare and very desirable. This was a marketing thing done to appeal to American buyers. It was stopped later as they realized it weakens the blades. And yes stamped..not etched.
 
Nice original J. Rodgers Bowie knife which you won't find in most of the older Rodgers catalogs. While Joseph Rodgers offered quite a variety of Bowie knives from the mid 1800s onward, the OP Bowie knife posted was meant for the American market only. Yes, most of the Bowie knives made in Sheffield in the 19th and 20th centuries were destined for the United States, but the OP model is only shown in an American dealers catalog from 1892, and not in any regular factory Rodgers catalogs from the 1800s or 1900s. Enclosed is a catalog illustration from that 1892 catalog showing the OP model which was available up through the early 1900s. It actually shows a spear point variation, but lists the clip point variation as an alternative (#24612). Bowie knives have a very hazy history and while the classic Bowie knife reached it's zenith during the American Civil War and started to fade away in the 1880s, it certainly never disappeared. There was a pretty good article titled "The Bowie Hunting Knife" in Knife Magazine back in 2017 which talks about the evolution of the Bowie knife from the 1800s through the 1900s.

Also enclosed is a picture of one of J. Rodgers fancier Bowie knives which had a pretty long run. It is seen as early as 1865 in a factory catalog, and as late as 1912 in another factory catalog.

View attachment 1464827

View attachment 1464829
 
skilledhunter, two fantastic examples of mid 19th century Bowie knives!!!
Are you aware of the article on Ciphered blades in Knife Magazine in 2018? A good article on that blade type.
Your Wragg is also wonderful with all the classic features found in the best Bowie knives.
 
herder said:
Nice original J. Rodgers Bowie knife which you won't find in most of the older Rodgers catalogs. While Joseph Rodgers offered quite a variety of Bowie knives from the mid 1800s onward, the OP Bowie knife posted was meant for the American market only. Yes, most of the Bowie knives made in Sheffield in the 19th and 20th centuries were destined for the United States, but the OP model is only shown in an American dealers catalog from 1892, and not in any regular factory Rodgers catalogs from the 1800s or 1900s. Enclosed is a catalog illustration from that 1892 catalog showing the OP model which was available up through the early 1900s. It actually shows a spear point variation, but lists the clip point variation as an alternative (#24612). Bowie knives have a very hazy history and while the classic Bowie knife reached it's zenith during the American Civil War and started to fade away in the 1880s, it certainly never disappeared. There was a pretty good article titled "The Bowie Hunting Knife" in Knife Magazine back in 2017 which talks about the evolution of the Bowie knife from the 1800s through the 1900s.

Also enclosed is a picture of one of J. Rodgers fancier Bowie knives which had a pretty long run. It is seen as early as 1865 in a factory catalog, and as late as 1912 in another factory catalog.

View attachment 1464827

View attachment 1464829
Click to expand...

Awesome information sharing, Sir... Thank you! :)
 
My continuance in trying to find a similar, or even better yet, the exact same model being sold online, almost worked out for me. I say ALMOST because it seems I had found an exact match, but when I clicked on for it's original source, (which was on the "bay" selling auction site), it was no longer active or showing info on it's sale.
I was hoping to have seen what it wound up selling for, or at least how much the seller was attempting to get for it.
And again, it was not my intention to get that number so that I could then re-sell my knife, but just for my own knowledge about it's possible current value. I know that my specimen' overall condition, and it still having it's fully intact sheath, will have some bearing on what it's average current value may be.
Still, it was cool to find what seems to be the exact same model knife...



Here is my specimen again for comparison...

 
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S skilledhunter Thanks for the fascinating addition of your Zachary Taylor knife. I found it very interesting and wonder if the presidential etching/promotion was likely done on the knife in the US by American workers after being imported from England? A rare and valuable piece I suspect and commemorating one of the shortest tenures in US Presidential history, so far....

This is a very rewarding thread.

Regards, Will
 
Hi will.. I doubt it. The etching was certainly done in Sheffield. They were good at it, and could do it cheaply. Here is another knife ..yes I have many.. With the "Old Zach " tang stamp. He was a popular celebrity back then. This is an I*XL Dagger/Bowie ebony handle with Ivory Pommel. He is depicted on "Old Whitey"


 
Hi will.. I doubt it. The etching was certainly done in Sheffield. They were good at it, and could do it cheaply. Here is another knife ..yes I have many.. With the "Old Zach " tang stamp. He was a popular celebrity back then. This is an I*XL Dagger/Bowie ebony handle with Ivory Pommel. He is depicted on "Old Whitey"


 
S skilledhunter Thank you very much for the info, your collection is authentic and very impressive, no junk there :thumbsup: (Sheffield was capable of making plenty of that later on...;))
 
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