www.925-1000.com

I recently picked up this fruit knife with an amazingly detailed--and dramatic--design. Since I'm relatively new to collecting these knives, I wonder if someone could educate me on some things about it. It shows what seems to be a bearded man aboard a one horse open sleigh apparently being followed by a pack of three wolves in hot pursuit. The driver is leaning forward intensely, holding tight to the reigns in his right hand and cracking a whip with his left hand. The cargo is a large barrel (beer?)
1-How was this scale made? It has such incredible detail in the design, could casting accomplish that?
2-Internet sources say that the hallmarks show that the knife was made by Gorham in the period of 1863-1890. Was this type of dramatic design very common?
3-Does anyone know anything about the origin of the image in history or literature?

Hi,

If you enter 'Russian sleigh chased by wolves' into Google Images, you get an extraordinary amount of returns on the subject. It seems sleighs being attacked by wolves in Russia was a real problem.

Perhaps a knife made for export? Or perhaps for Russian emigres in the States?

Trev.

Gorham made a similar image in their "North Pole Expedition" spoon:





As far as the detail, Gorham either "die stamped" their spoons or "cast" their spoons, and sometimes spoons were die cast with partially-cast elements, but if I had to guess, I would think your knife was made by a skilled artist carving a very detailed and intricate die, and then the silver metal was placed on top of that die, and then a stamping machine created the image with a lot of force....

I love Gorham flatware because of all the tiny details contained in them, they are works of art.

Fascinating. Looks like the "wolves" on my knife scale have been repurposed as sled dogs on your spoon. Thanks very much for your insights.