Another weighty folding knife built to the Boer War pattern, this time manufactured by Brookes & Crookes of Sheffield, and effectively identical to the same example in my collection made by Hunter.
The horn scales have shrunk slightly over time, as often happens, and the back spring is weak, giving a poor snap to the blade and marline spike, but the best thing about this knife, apart from the fact that it has survived for 120+ years, is the pair of clear markings on the blade.
The stamp on the mark side of the tang is BROOKES & CROOKES and SHEFFIELD, enclosing their bell trademark. The pile side of the tang bears a particularly clear War Department/government ownership stamp of W /|\ D and the inspector’s number, 4. Overall length (closed): 4⅞”/12.5cm.
Brookes & Crookes traded from the mid-1800s, receiving an Honourable Mention at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and prospered into the early 1900s; thereafter, like many similar companies, it died a slow death until finally liquidated in 1964.
Source: antique shop purchase.