formed of a pair of blades each of triangular section and slightly hollowed on the inner face, etched with scrolling foliage on the lower half on each face, one inner face signed in full and the outer faces retaining some blued finish, fluted ricasso incorporating the pivot joint, engraved German silver stirrup hilt decorated with oak foliage and acorns, crown pommel, the grip formed with a pair of oval holes and divided down the centre, in a later scabbard, 79.0 cm blade

Literature

David Hayden-Wright, The Heritage of English Knives, Atglen, Pennsylvania, 2008, p. 104.

Stated to have been made for the Great Exhibition in 1851.

George Oates is first recorded around 1837 as a scissor and dagger maker at 14 Steel House Lane, and by 1841, as scissor manufacturer and beer house keeper of 40 Hoyle Street. In 1851 he had left Hoyle Street, dropped the beer house and moved to Gatefield Works, Loxley employing 30 people. He died ten years later in 1861.

Part proceeds to benefit the Acquisition Fund of the Arms and Armor department, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.