This is a John Newton & Co. Sheffield Bowie Knife & Original Sheath In As Found Condition. Please see my photos for a better idea of the state of the item. Please let me know if you have any questions or want more pictures!

John Sheffield and Co. was established in 1861 by Arthur Lee & Son. In about 1870, Lee returned to Sheffield and set up his own agency as a cutlery merchant and American importer in Arundel Lane. In the early 1880s, Lee began wire manufacture and the Arundel Lane premises were vacated. By 1887, John Newton had opened Manhattan Works, 11 Arundel Lane. He had been born in 1854 in Ridgeway, near Eckington, the second son of Edward Newton – a sickle manufacturer and later steel merchant – and his wife Catherine.

Newton sold table and pocket cutlery, Bowie knives, and razors through the New York cutlery importer H. Boker (founded by German immigrants). Meanwhile, Newton imported American goods, such as R. Heinisch’s shears, scissors, and trimmers. Industries of Sheffield (1888) claimed that Newton’s employed fifty or sixty workers. By 1900, the address of Manhattan Works was Lambert Street – the home of John Watts, which had purchased Newton’s trade marks (a picture of a frog and the words, ‘MANHATTAN CUTLERY CO, SHEFFIELD’). Newton also used the mark of Johnson, Spencer & Co, which also passed to Watts. John Newton was living in Ranmoor Cliffe Road. The firm and its owner remained listed after the First World War but disappeared from directories after 1926. John Newton, of Bents Road, died on 21 February 1937.