I*XL Wostenholm markings.

[RETDPMSO]

Also forgot to mention, the lack of "England" means it pre-dates 1890. Is it two or four blades?
Can't tell from the picture. A two blade in this arrangement is called a half-Congress; 4 blades is a regular congress pattern.
Rich S

I do not believe the lack of ENGLAND makes it pre 1890. I have a Herbert Robinson pruner which is clearly from the 1900's which does not have ENGLAND. I was under the impression that the ENGLAND mark only applied if the item was being exported.
RETDPMSO

[OWDTOM]

While not a congress, here's a pretty little I*XL with pearl scales/ silver bolsters and 4 blades all in near mint condition. I guess it's just a gentleman's knife. Is there a specific name for it?

Rich S

Cracking little knife which I feel sure I've seen elsewhere.

The style doesn't have a 'specific' name over here that I know of Rich

Wostenholm's tended to describe the knives shown in their catalogues by the number of blades rather the handle/blade shapes etc.

For example the term 'whittler' didn't exist as such, they were called simply three-blade knives.

There were exceptions of course and some knives were blade-flat marked 'congress knife', 'senator knife 'speying knife', 'cattle knife' and so on; but in the catalogues they were nontheless described simply as two blade, three blade, four blade etc.

Also knives might be labelled under a catalogue heading as 'scissors knives' or 'nail knives' even though there were other blades and articles included within the frame.

Your knife, as you know, has 'church window' bolsters and this shot might be of interest, taken from an 1885 Wostenholm catalogue. It shows 'tipped', 'spoon end' 'threaded' and other style bolsters and the one on the far left is somewhat similar to yours.

It's worth noting also that whilst it became compulsory for the country of origin to be marked on knives for the American market from 1890 onwards, the word 'England' was already in evidence on the catalogues long before then.

T.

[OWDTOM]

I do not believe the lack of ENGLAND makes it pre 1890. I have a Herbert Robinson pruner which is clearly from the 1900's which does not have ENGLAND. I was under the impression that the ENGLAND mark only applied if the item was being exported.
RETDPMSO

I have written at length about this elsewhere on one of the threads, but I've no idea where.
T.

[RETDPMSO]

I have written at length about this elsewhere on one of the threads, but I've no idea where.
T.

Tom,

Somehow it was posted under the London Knife Book thread.

This is what you said:

The Vexed question of Date.


The U.S. Tariff Act 1890 is regularly quoted on BB to ‘support’ theories re the dates of English-made knives; mainly because of the mandatory requirement for the word ‘England’ to be marked on knives for export to the U.S. from 1891 onwards.

It is often assumed that if the tang mark doesn’t include the word ‘England’, then the knife pre-dates 1891. This might prove to be the case on occasion, but it is not always so by any means.

Over the years, as Sheffield cutlery firms progressively went out of business, I acquired many hundreds, probably thousands in fact, of old blades and articles for pen and pocket knives.
This morning, whilst rummaging through an old box of odds and ends, I pulled out at random a handful of blades to check the marks. Even I was surprised at the result: a mere four out of a total of forty-four had the word England on the tang.

The point being, that these are all 20th century blades!

RETDPMSO

[Rich S]

Could it be that the "England" notation was done only for knives destined for export to the US and that those for local sale were not marked England??? Just a question, not a statement. I know that was done with some Scandinavian knives (i.e. only marking country for export sale). Now of course the stamped country is meanless as knives made in China, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, etc are marked with most any country name that will sell knives. Marttiini filet knives are now made in China but marked Finland (not Made In Finland like the older ones).

Rich S

[yaro5]

Rich, any knife imported into the US after the enactment of the US Tariff Act 1890 had to be marked with the country of origin. But don't forget this era (1830-1930) was the golden age for Sheffield cutlery and they exported knives to the four corners of the globe, not just the US. So therefore unless a knife can be exclusively attributed as a US import, there is no hard and fast rule. As usual in our chosen hobby dating a knife most often comes down to educated guess work.

Joe

[OWDTOM]

Tom,

Somehow it was posted under the London Knife Book thread.

RETDPMSO

Although it fits the current topic, this is not the post I had in mind.

T.

[Petermoc95]

Hey Rich mine is a two bladed congress knife, ivory handle could be walrus or elephant and silver caps on the ends. can any one help price. There are photos on the link

[Petermoc95]

This should help some.

[Petermoc95]

I dont know why its not working go to page 2 i have a photo url address on it.

[jmp27]

Hello from canada just little curious on 3staghorn like handled pieces Carving knife, fork and blade sharpner. Words engraved --> Geo.Wostenholm & Sons
Celebrated' IXL Cutlery Sheffield England.
Can tell it is old and would love to know the history of the company and possible year this was made also the worth?
This came into my possession in a box marked free from my neighborhood. I was hesitating on taken the item but I enjoy kitchen utensils and would love to know of these 3 pieces......unfortunately I have no pictures yet.

Thanks
JMP27

[wellington03]

Hello from canada just little curious on 3staghorn like handled pieces Carving knife, fork and blade sharpner. Words engraved --> Geo.Wostenholm & Sons
Celebrated' IXL Cutlery Sheffield England.
Can tell it is old and would love to know the history of the company and possible year this was made also the worth?
This came into my possession in a box marked free from my neighborhood. I was hesitating on taken the item but I enjoy kitchen utensils and would love to know of these 3 pieces......unfortunately I have no pictures yet.

Thanks
JMP27

A warm welcome to the forum JMP27.

You can use the search facility to look for more information on G Wostenholm.


Here are scans of some Wostenholm open razor box labels, and a wrapper, beautiful artwork, they feature some of the firms well known marks. The top two labels are the earliest, guessing Victorian ?.











Mick

[Jacebo]

Hope this can be of any help:
'Trademarks on base metal tableware, late 18th century to circa 1900'
I know we aren't talking tableware here but the manufacturers did more than just that.

http://www.sha.org/research_resource...0Tableware.pdf

[Colleen]

Hello, I have a set of Wostenholm mother of pearl tea knives and forks. The markings on the knives is BP * NS or is might be EP or RP rather than BP. The blades are patterned as are the forks. Does anyone have any idea what those markings mean or what the value of my set may be? There are 6 of each and they're in a wood case.
Thanks - Colleen

[Smiling-Knife]

Hi Colleen. Welcome to the site. It I think it is likely EPNS which is Electro-Plated Nickel Silver. It is a thin layer of silver bonded to a base metal nickel silver. Basically, silver-plated cutlery. It sounds like a nice set but I don't know about values.