Silver hafted pocket fruit knife by Jonathan Bell, 1844

Description

Jonathan Bell was a silversmith and cutler working with his brother John from premises on Montague Street, Sheffield. They ceased working together around 1854 and set up businesses independently. Jonathan continued making fruit knives with his adopted protegé, Edmund Bell, until his death in 1877. This Jonathan Bell knife was made when the two brothers were working together. It has no liners, instead it is built with two substantial scales of silver. Although not hallmarked, the scales test for sterling silver. Both scales are beautifully chased with acanthus leaves surrounding a central cartouche on each scale. The face scale cartouche is engraved with the original owner’s monogram “MS”. There is a tooled silver gilt back bar sleeve. The solid silver blade has five hallmarks from the Sheffield Assay Office: the Sheffield crown, date letter ‘B’ for 1844, the Queen Victoria head duty mark, the lion passant and the maker’s mark ‘JB’. The blade does not fully close, otherwise this heavy silver knife is in very good to excellent condition. When a silver blade fails to fully close it is a result of the softer metal (silver) being worn by repeatedly being turned against the spring bar which is made from a harder metal (steel).