When it comes to online auctions I am (surprisingly) well organised – I select the Lots of interest, take screenshots of the relevant pages and print off a single sheet with those screenshots in miniature. I mark the page with my maximum prices and, on auction day, I try my hardest not to get carried away.
On this occasion I was halfway through buying some of my planned Lots when a pair of bone-handled folders came up. I was instantly attracted, placed a low bid … and won. One of the pair was a folder by Richards of Sheffield (an offshoot of Gebruder Richartz & Soehne of Solingen) which subsequently made its way to a collection of Richard’s folders in Australia, and the other was this Thomas Turner & Co.
The knife is a single-blade, bone-handled folder 4″ closed and 7¼” open, with nickel silver bolsters and escutcheon, and brass liners – another words, a quality item. The spine of the blade is unusually thick at 4mm, with a nice chamfer towards the tip. The spring is equally wide and the snap is correspondingly strong.
The blade is stamped THOMAS TURNER & Co. SHEFFIELD at the tang and stamped with Turner’s ‘3 diamonds over a wavy line’ trademark along the blade.
A friend has a knife of the same pattern, made by John Baker who went under in 1893, thereby roughly dating this pattern 1870s – 1890s.
Source: bought at auction.