Joseph Nowill pocket fruit knife, 1828

Description

Joseph Nowill was listed as a pen knife cutler in Peacroft, Sheffield in 1774. He first registered a silver mark on May 1st 1783 by which time he had moved to Copper Street.  He registered a near identical silver mark in 1813. Pocket fruit knives by Joseph Nowill are quite rare. This very fine example is 3 inches closed and has a gentle sleeveboard shaped body. The knife is made with fine brass liners, lightly carved iridescent mother-of-pearl scales featuring a bee hive and bees. There is a tooled silver back bar sleeve, an inlaid silver cartouche engraved with “IR”, silver bolsters and a solid silver blade. The Assay office stamped five hallmarks on the blade: the Sheffield crown, lion passant, date letter ‘e’ for 1845, the George IV head duty mark and the ‘IN’ maker’s mark. This rare knife is in superb condition.