Postby dognose » Fri Aug 31, 2018 1:25 pm
.........This is peculiarly true of Messrs. Mappin and Webb's works in Norfolk-street. Every household, almost, in the kingdom possesses something made by the firm—spoons, dish covers, coffee pots—and the result was, of course, that the works possessed a popular interest, which attracted crowds. It may not be generally known to our readers that the late Mr. Newton Mappin presented to Sheffield an art gallery, which contains pictures—and that in numbers—of the very highest class of modern art; and those who love art and yet visited Sheffield without seeing the Mappin Gallery have not a little to regret. A curious fact was stated to us during our visit to the works. Some few years ago Messrs. Mappin and Webb invented and patented a method of securing the ivory handles to dinner knives. The tangs are not only screwed in, but secured by a special cement. All went well for a time, but after a while knives began to come back to the works to have the blades renewed, and it was then found that the blades could not be got out, and so, after weeks had been fruitlessly spent in experimenting, the firm offered a reward to anyone who would solve the problem, and devise a plan by which the blades could be removed without injuring the valuable ivory handles. In a few days the reward was claimed by and paid to one of the workmen. We are not at liberty to say how the thing is done, but it is done to perfection. The whole event constitutes a curious little episode in the cutlery trade.
Source: The Engineer - 8th August 1890
Trev.