29th Jun, 2023 12:00
The David Hayden-Wright Collection of Antique Knives
723
A SPORTSMAN’S KNIFE, JOHN PETTY & SONS, SHEFFIELD, LATE 19TH CENTURY
with eight folding elements including signed pen blade, saw, screw driver, trace borer, awl, and button hook, copper alloy fillets, natural staghorn scales with concealed tweezers and pricker, German silver loop and vacant escutcheon, 14.2 cm (closed)
Literature
David Hayden-Wright, The Heritage of English Knives, Atglen, Pennsylvania, 2008, p. 152.
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.
Part proceeds to benefit the Acquisition Fund of the Arms and Armor department, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Sold for £750
with eight folding elements including signed pen blade, saw, screw driver, trace borer, awl, and button hook, copper alloy fillets, natural staghorn scales with concealed tweezers and pricker, German silver loop and vacant escutcheon, 14.2 cm (closed)
Literature
David Hayden-Wright, The Heritage of English Knives, Atglen, Pennsylvania, 2008, p. 152.
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.
Part proceeds to benefit the Acquisition Fund of the Arms and Armor department, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Auction: The David Hayden-Wright Collection of Antique Knives, 29th Jun, 2023
