Vigo County Historical Society

Historical Treasure Article

Historic Treasure of the Week - May 25, 1986
By David M. Buchanan
Executive director
Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley

Knives slice through history

Of all the tools mankind has invented, the knife has remained one of the most popular.

Prehistoric man chipped flakes of flint and obsidian to fashion stone knives that could cut hides and carve wood. Knives were fashioned from other material like slate, bone, ivory and teeth.

During the bronze Age metal knives of copper and bronze also were made. Bronze was a little tougher than copper and both were superior to the earlier stone knives. Good metal
knives didn't appear until the smelting of iron ore.

Iron was far stronger and could hold an edge longer in comparison to the earlier bone and copper knives. Then craftsmen in India discovered that by heating iron and charcoal together, cooling down the iron and then repeating the process, iron became harder and harder. Steel knives became possible. With the introduction of steel, knives could be ground and honed into a razor sharpness.

Because knives were sharp and could cut they weren't just useful to their owners. They also were dangerous.

Folding knives probably were invented for protection. The blades could disappear into the handle and only be brought out when the owner needed to use it. Folding knives were known to the ancient Romans but their popularity grew rapidly during the Middle Ages. Knives with two blades that folded did not become common until the 18th century. The pocketknife, a small folding knife, became popular when pockets were added to trousers.

The 19th century witnessed an explosion of pocketknives with a variety of uses and shapes. Because more and more families were beginning to take their lunches and go on picnics, pocketknives were developed that included the knife, spoon, fork, corkscrew and similar implements.

One pocketknife in Geneva, Switzerland, has over 100 implements fitted between its two covers. Another folding knife on display in the City Museum of Sheffield, England, is less than an inch in length yet has more than 40 implements built into the case.

The folding knife listed in the "Guiness Book of Records" as having the most blades is the Sheffield Knife. It has a blade for every year in the Christian calendar. A new blade is added each year and the knife will be considered complete in the year 2000.

This week's historical treasure probably was manufactured as a souvenir knife, perhaps sold at a county fair or in a country store. It is made of steel and has two blades held together by a two-end spring. It is covered by two embossed copper plates. One side shows a farmer carrying a large hand-wielded scythe, standing before his field of grain. The other side has two scenes. On the left three women gather sheaves of grain while on the right side a man guides oxen pulling a plow.

Copper is a soft metal and the embossed scenes are quite worn, probably from years of rubbing between the material of the pocket.

The pocket knife was manufactured by W. H. Morley and Sons in Germany and probably dates to the latter part of the 19th century.

Pocketknives once were found in the pocket of every man, whether rich or ne'er-do-well, young boy or great-grandfather. The knives ranged from cheap steel with plastic covers to elaborate models with a variety of tools and rare covers of exotic woods, gold or mother-of-pearl.

There has been a resurgence of popularity for the pocketknife. Interest in their historical past also has grown.

The small souvenir pocketknife is one of several in the collection in the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley. Each is different. And each has a tie with the history of man's loyalty to the knife.

The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday through Friday.