with burnished blade, signed ricasso and turned wooden grip; another, Rodgers, Cutlers to His Majesty, Sheffield, with whalebone grip; another, Wostenholm, Sheffield, with carved wooden grip; a folding artist’s knife, John Petty & Sons, Sheffield; a desk knife, John Petty & Sons, Sheffield; and a rare cigar box opening knife, the first: 17.5 cm (6)

Provenance

David Hayden-Wright (1936-2006)

Literature

David Hayden-Wright, The Heritage of English Knives, Atglen, Pennsylvania, 2008, p. 177.

The last was reportedly found at the office of Joseph Rodgers.

John Thomas Petty (circa 1818-1887) is recorded as a grocer and shopkeeper around the mid-19th century. In 1868, he advertised as a maker of farriers’ and oyster knives and established a thriving business which later passed to his sons John Thomas Petty (1848-1931) and Joseph Heald Petty (1856-1920). In 1881 the firm had six employees but they expanded considerably towards the end of the century to Perth Works, a three storey building at 60 Garden Street that could have provided employment for up to a hundred hands. They built a solid reputation for their butchers’ and trade knives as well as some fine exhibition pocket knives.