What is this CLXXXXIII

[Qrt.S]

I recently bought this interesting object. It is 24 cm/~9,5". At first glance I thought that it is the other part of an aspic server pair but then I noticed that it is mirrored compared to the knife in an aspic server. In addition, the cutting edge is on the outside while in the aspic knife it is on the inside. It is made in Finland in the during WWII to USSR lost town of Kexholm in Karelia by Juho Parkkinen in 1934. That was one reason to buy it, it is rare. The other was that I have no idea of what is is for and I collect such silver things. Does anybody? Please do not suggest, lemon cutter or ice sickle. It is too small or too weak for that. Yes it is in silver 813/1000. My best guess would be a sorbet slicer but can anybody confirm it?


To compare with, here an aspic server pair. Please note the mirror shape and the inside cutting edge. The size is about the same on both (~25cm)

[rat-tail]

Hi Qrt.S could it be for salmon or gravlax - just a guess

[Qrt.S]

Well rat-tail, not a bad suggestion at all. After giving your suggestion a second thought, I went shopping and bought a few slices of gravlax and tried. Yes it works amazingly well. It was not so difficult to separate the greasy lax-slices with this "tool". A totally other questions still remains, is meant for gravlax? Since there are no better solutions at sight, let it be so. However, using it for gravlax would never had crossed my mind.
Thank you rat-tail.

[DianaGaleM]

It appears to me what you probably have is half of what in German is called an Eisvorlegebesteck, an Ice Cream Serving Set:



You hold the "spoon" in your left hand and the knife in your right as you carve slices off a block of ice cream.

The above image is from WMF's 1925/26 Musterbuch (pattern book), on p. 64.

[Qrt.S]

It doesn't work cutting ice cream. I tried it, impossible to serve with it, you will drop on the table. The lower picture shows what is called aspic servers. As already mentioned, if you compare the "knife" in the upper picture you see that is in a way mirrored in comparison with the knife in the aspic server set. Its cutting edge is on the opposite side. In addition it has no pair. Of course it could be lost, but I don't think so.

[DianaGaleM]

You don't "serve" with the knife. You take the "spoon/spatula" in your left hand and put it up against the bottom of the block of ice cream where it meets the serving plate, then cut off a slice of ice cream with the knife allowing it to fall onto the spoon. You then position the spoon over the desert plate and tilt the spoon allowing the ice cream to slide off.

In any case, I was just making a suggestion as to what it appears to me to be. It isn't necessary that we come to any agreement about it.