FINE & RARE ANTIQUE SHEFFIELD 1837-40s LOCKBACK FOLDING DIRK SELF DEFENSE WEAPON

Description: FINE & RARE ANTIQUE SHEFFIELD 1837-40s LOCKBACK FOLDING DIRK SELF DEFENSE WEAPON FINE & RARE ANTIQUE SHEFFIELD LOCK BACK FOLDING DIRKHEART SHAPED POMMEL~ FANCY CROSSGAURD SELF DEFENSE WEAPONSELECT BIAS CUT SCALES ~ By LOCKWOOD BROS. CIRCA 1837-40’sThis is a rare Sheffield Folding Lock back Self Defense Weapon Dirk Knife in fine condition with a 3 15/16” single edge dirk style blade with median ridge with select multi color cream color to dark brown bias-cut horn scales, fancy cross guard and a desirable and rare Heart shaped pommel. Overall, 9" long opened. The hollow stamped German silver mounts are filled with lead and has brass liners. This folding dirk weighs 3.6 ounces or 103 grams yet is a deadly self-defense weapon. The large cross guard has a pattern know to be used in the 1830’s and 1840’s with shaped and stylized quillon ends and a top embossing in a shell pattern, a common theme in 1830’s mounts and an oval raised center panel to reinforce the Master pin and embossed bottom ridge. The pommel is a rare and desirable Heart shape. All 4 mounts are in mint condition with light natural aging in the protected areas. Although other examples probably exist, (see page 211 of the Sheffield Exhibition Knife Book) the center folding dirk by R. Bunting & Sons (1841-50) with the same blade is the only other example I have seen with this unusual Heart shaped pommel pattern with an interior leaf pattern above a stylized bottom mount. Also note that the Sheffield dirk to its left is an error in the book and is actually Maker marked by Pickslay (1828-1843) with the same distinctive early style of round backspring release. The right-hand dirk is marked W crown R (1830-37). The hilt has two 1/4" thick bias-cut horn scales with slight inward beveled edges at the tops and bottoms are mint, with only one tiny edge nibble on the back non display side top edge scale and aged patina at the scale ends. The scales are secured with 4 domed German silver pins. Not all folders had escutcheon plates. The front select multi-color tan to dark brown horn scale has an unusual thin rectangle escutcheon pattern with rounded ends, along with the early style overlaid center escutcheon plate secured by two tiny pins. This transition of escutcheon plates from overlaid to inlaid with a parser tool begin to appear around 1836-37 and the use of the bow fiddle inlay tool continued for decades. Almost all men of this period carried self-defense weapons, especially in the cities where there was no real law and order, and it was every man for himself vs. muggers, thieves and thugs.It is interesting to note that during this tumultuous time in Sheffield cutlery, there were untold mergers, acquisitions, consolidations, and buyouts. Bankruptcies and resultant cutlery unemployment were commonplace. During this burgeoning time of American growth and cutlery needs, new owners would inherit the old firm’s stock of blade blanks, mounts, scale materials, and nothing was discarded. Thus, there are a wide variety of cutlery characteristics and idiosyncrasies generic to patterns found on some knives from this period. This dirk has a couple of interesting characteristics that may be from the period of 1837 when Lockwood Brothers were first listed, and 1844, when the firm acquired Sorby’s business, stock, workers and marks. The inside lead fillings of the hollow stamped German silver cross guard quillons show rough file marks in the lead filling and do not have the usual brass cover plates. The original Sheffield blade’s hot stamp is partially hidden by the top shell protrusion of the oversize cross guard, which is not uncommon. The hot stamp shows the correct Old English style letter C with a center bottom half of + mark above and another + mark underneath, and the correct Old English style letter X. This is the original C+ X hallmark assigned to John Lockwood in 1767 and used continuously until 1862, when German counterfeiting forced the company to adopt another mark, the Pampas rhea (an ostrich like flightless bird) for its overseas markets, especially South America.The original Master blade is the correct size, shape, pattern, and is fitted inside the hilt perfectly, with naturally occurring aging / spidering inside the nail nick, on the bottom of the ricasso between the quillons, inside the hilt at the end of the blade ricasso, the rounded blade pivot, and the end of the backspring, as well as half circle wear on both sides of the blade ricasso from the liners from opening and closing the blade. The back spring is very strong and the original blade snaps open with a resounding loud click in the locking position and is very tight with no movement front to back or side to side. When closing, the blade has a very strong snap as evidenced by the tiny nicks in the inside lip of the curled around end of the backspring where the backspring act as a stop where the tip properly rests. Note there is no reason to hard snap any antique knife; especially one with a very strong backspring as this can damage, bend or break off the blade tip.The Master cutler assembler fitting the blade to the hilt to set, snap open and close perfectly resulted in the ends of the blade ricasso and back spring being slightly misaligned; but is inside the cross guard and would have been of no consequence to a period knife buyer wouldn’t know or care as the knife works perfectly. There is an untouched natural aged patina on the backspring inside the hilt and also on the top outside of the backspring between the quillons. Note the lower portions of the backspring has been lightly cleaned, with small spots of surface pitting remaining. The blade has its original edge and full tip. The front lower middle of the blade flat had a few hard to see scattered tiny random spots of naturally occurring shallow surface age marks and the blade has been very lightly cleaned to remove these tiny spots of old surface pitting that takes a century to create, and now has a smooth, even, pleasing shiny satin finish on both sides, with just a few micro minuscule spots remaining that are invisible to the naked eye, and even hard to see with a 10x loupe. The blade is shiny with a satin finish, and on the back side blade edge there are a few hard to see micro thin outlines that appear as faint shadows that appear to be remnants of the crocus of Iron polish. They are almost invisible to see with the naked eye, and I took dozens of images to try to capture these almost invisible features but can be seen in a couple of images that are many times larger than actual size to exaggerate the details. In the United States of the 1840's, almost 100% of Folding Lock back self-defense weapons were imported from Sheffield and are many times rarer and more desirable than their fixed blade counterparts. This fine, eye appealing late 1830’s - 1840's early Sheffield Folding Dirk with a fancy cross guard and very rare heart shaped pommel would be the centerpiece of many early to mid-1800’s self-defense knife collections and would make a handsome display piece in any knife, dirk, dagger, Folder, Bowie, edged weapon, Mexican American War, Civil War, gambling, Old West, Western Americana, or Military Officer's accouterments collection. The number of surviving examples of mint, unsharpened, uncarried, connoisseur investment quality 1800’s antique knives is extremely limited, rarely offered, and an investment for a discerning collector.LOCKWOOD HISTORY The Sheffield Lockwood firm was founded by John Lockwood who was an apprenticed file maker to John Burgin. He became a Freeman in 1767 when he was assigned the C+X hallmark. The firm Lockley & Lockwood was registered in the 1787 directory. John Lockwood had two sons, John jr. (b.1769 - d.1856) and William Lockwood (b.1775 – d.1829). William Lockwood was listed in the 179o directory on Arundel Street as a merchant and file manufacturer. He married Ann Sorby in 1803 which linked the Lockwood’s with the Sorby tool making dynasty. The firm Lockwood & Sorby were factors on Arundel Street in 1817 and were listed as merchants and file manufacturers in 1822. William Lockwood died in 1829, and John Lockwood Jr. became the Senior Partner. William Lockwood Sr. and his wife Ann had 4 sons who became the Lockwood Brothers: William jr. (b. 1806 – d.1873), John jr. (b.1813 – d. 1876), Joseph (b. 1815 – d.1902) and Charles (b.1822 d.1872). In 1837, Lockwood Brothers was listed on Arundel Street and soon partnered with John Sorby & Sons in Spital Hill. That partnership dissolved in 1844 when Lockwood Bros. acquired Sorby’s business and marks, and later registered Sorby’s mark as I & H SORBY in 1877. By 1861, Lockwood Brothers employed 500 workers, and in 1865, expanded their premises on Arundel Street with a newly built portion of W & S Butcher’s Sterling Works. Their catalogs showed all types of cutleries from hunting and skinning knives to all types of pocket cutlery, including complicated sports knives. Three of the four Lockwood Brothers died in the early 1870’s; Charles in 1872, aged 63, William Jr. in 1873, aged, 66, and John Jr. in 1876, aged 63. In 1883, the firm employed 400 workers. In 1891 The firm left the Arundel Street location and moved to the Spital Hill factory of Sorby and became a limited company. The directors were John Lockwood Jr., George Francis Lockwood (b.1853 – d. 1919), the son of John Lockwood Jr., and grandson of the founder, and Thomas Porter Lockwood (b/1853 d.1934), the son of Charles Lockwood. Joseph Lockwood, the last of the 4 Lockwood brothers died in 1902 at aged 87. Joseph Lockwood Jr.’s son William Lockwood III died in 1890 at aged 42. The firm was then managed by George F. Lockwood (b. 1850) and became a Master cutler in 1886 at aged 36. By WWI, the business was in decline and losing money. George Lockwood died in 1919, aged 69, and the firm became part of Sheffield Manufacturers Cutlery Ltd., a group led by Needham, Veall & Tyzack. By 1927, Lockwood’s assets and marks were sold. PAYMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PAYPAL & ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER, e-CHECKS & ALL MAJOR CREDIT & DEBIT CARDS, APPLE PAY, GOOGLE PAY AND ALL OTHER PAYMENT METHODS APROVED BUY EBAY. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SHIPPING ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FREE SHIPPING & HANDLING FOR DOMESTIC BUYERS & TO THE EBAY U.S.A. INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING CENTER. FOR USA PURCHASES, SHIPPING, HANDLING & DELIVERY IS FREE VIA U.S.P.S. FIRST CLASS MAIL (UP TO 16 OZ.) OR U.S.P.S. 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Price: 4500 USD

Location: Fairfield, California

End Time: 2024-08-24T05:55:54.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD