Help with mother of pearl and silver fruit knives

[rat-tail]

Hi all. Any help identifying and dating these attractive mother of pearl handled fruit knives with silver blades would be appreciated. I am not even sure they are sheffield but am listing them here as have seen marks similar to these identified as belonging to known knife maker Moses Brent of Sheffield. The rest of the hallmarks also confuse, something I can't identify which looks too small for a duty mark, a small p with an underscore, and a lion passant which doesn't look like a London one. They're a good set of knives, longer at 21cm than most modern fruit knives and surprisingly heavy. Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks Frank





and off a different knife

[dognose]

Hi Frank,

I strongly suspect these are colonial pieces and I'll move them to that forum to see if we can get a responce.

I'm sure you know, but in case that you don't, and wondered what was the cause of those lines running across the base of the blades are, they are caused by the blades being inserted into a rotary knife blade cleaner. These pieces of equipment were a must for keeping carbon steel blades in pristine condition, but were never intended to be used for cleaning the soft blades that were made of silver. Servants working downstairs and hard pressed for time, would no doubt have unaware of the long term damage that these knife cleaning machines would have inflected on the Master's silverware until it was too late.

Trev.

[rat-tail]

Hi Trev - many thanks and let's hope. The marks are strange. Been through Weltz and nothing like this listed there, so we can presumably rule out Cape. Am also assuming first quarter of the 19th century, period wise, or could they be late 18th century.

And thanks for the info on the lines on the blades - that's new to me - had always assumed it was part of the design, possibly to stop the juices from the fruit running down the handles, or something ridiculous. So the gauge of the silver on the blades would have been a lot heavier originally. - Regards Frank

[Granmaa]

Quite probably Chinese Export.
Looking in The Chait Collection of Chinese Export Silver there is a photo of the same combination of marks on a marrow scoop. In the description it says "MB is a rare maker whose location and name are unknown but whose few pieces suggest 1840 as a working period."

Miles

[rat-tail]

Hi Miles - fantastic news - many thanks - and my first set of early Chinese silver. Must have been shortly after the opium wars when Britain won Hong Kong. Amazing how quickly Chinese silversmith adapted to English styles. Appreciate the input - Regards Frank

[2209patrick]

Yes, Chinese export.



Pat.