Henry Atkin silver and mother-of-pearl pocket fruit knife, 1844

Description

After being in a partnership for 12 years with renowned cutler John Oxley who specialised in pocket fruit knives, Henry Atkin started his own business in 1841. Henry died in 1853 after which his sons formed Atkin Brothers but continued to use their father’s silver mark. This fine example of an Atkin mother-of-pearl handled knife is 3 inches closed. The iridescent mother-of-pearl scales are lightly chamfered. There is an inlaid silver cartouche engraved with the original owner’s name “E. Horsfull”. There is a tooled silver back bar sleeve and silvered bolsters. The solid silver spearpoint blade has five hallmarks: the Sheffield crown, lion passant, Queen Victoria head duty mark, the date letter ‘A’ for 1844 and the maker’s mark “HA”. The knife is in excellent condition.