Antique Sheffield Steel Dinner Knives with Polished Cattle Horn Handles (8 inches)
These beautiful old table knives were hand-forged and crafted in a timeless manner that is uniquely British. They were made in Sheffield, England during the mid to late 1800s but they are still perfectly good for not only decoration but also for use today.
These knives are marked only "STEEL" on their shafts. There are made of hardened steel, suitable for use. This was the metal for durability during the last half of the 19th century. The handles are made from natural horn that is almost cone shaped into a smooth rounded grip with steel pommels at the ends. These are antique items and as such may display signs of use and wear.
Four of these knives are by Southern & Richardson of Sheffield and the fifth knife, though quite similar, is marked "UNIQUE."
A friend brought these to America from England when she immigrated here in the 1960s. They had been in her family for generations.
NOTES: The Sheffield cutlery industry is at least 700 years old. Historical descriptions of the trade have generally concentrated on the craft organisation by the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire and the manufacture of steel for the blades. Cutlery handles have been manufactured from costly and exotic materials such as ivory and tortoiseshell, or from bone or antler on more mundane and lower quality knives. Bone, horn and stag antler could of course be locally sourced – cattle bone and horn, and sheep and pig bone from slaughter houses while the trade’s use of so-called ‘stag’ (antlers from any species of deer) could come from native herds and abroad.