James Fenton pocket fruit knife, 1863

Description

There is little recorded about James Fenton other than he was a silversmith who became renowned for silver thimbles as well as being a prolific producer of silver-bladed pocket fruit knives. The 1849 Birmingham Directory listed him as a “gold and silver pencil case maker”. This example of a James Fenton pocket fruit knife has an organic shaped body and measures 3 1/4 inches in the closed position. It is made with brass liners finely carved mother-of-pearl scales, an inlaid silver cartouche engraved with the original owner’s name “J. E. Stokes”, pinched silver bolsters, a finely tooled silver back bar sleeve and a robust spearpoint silver blade. The blade has five hallmarks from the Birmingham Assay Office: the Birmingham anchor, lion passant, Queen Victoria head duty mark, date letter “O” for 1863 and the “JF” maker’s mark. Although the blade does not fully close this fine knife is otherwise in excellent condition.