1940s (?) 'Sheffield' lever "shellpuller"

[button_man]

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I got this at the flea three weeks ago..... the ricasso stamp reads "No. 6 Sheffield steel" and the blade is stamped "best steel". An acquaintance did
an image search and came up with several identical knives, with the most probable origin being India or Pakistan, dating approximately from 1947 to the mid-1950s. This explains a lot -- the fit is very good, showing skill at smoothing surfaces for a tight match. But the front bolsters and lever mechanism are
quite crude, indicating primitive manufacturing technology of the brass components. And of course, since India was a British colony, steel would have been sent there for fabrication into various products. (Assuming that the steel is actually from Sheffield, of course.)

The blade is pretty loose, with S2S and U&D play; also, it looks like the blade tip was broken off and a bad attempt made to re-form the point.
You can even see heat discoloration where the steel lost tempering at the point. Nevertheless, the knife is in surprisingly good condition overall,
with very little oxidation and a good strong spring with plenty of snap. The horn scales are in really good condition also.

I had never encountered this knife before -- it would not surprise me to learn that they may have been made specifically for that part of the world,
and possibly never exported to the USA. AAPK shows a folding Bowie with the "No. 6 Sheffield steel" mark and a commenter says that these may have been exported to this country up until 1970; however, this switchblade could not have been exported here legally after 1958. Even before that, it seems improbable that these could have competed with the wildly popular Italian stilettos. (https://allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_ ... hp?t=54360)

Oh, here's an amusing aspect of the knife: the "shellpuller" guards are strictly for show. They are not marked with gauge specs like the real thing,
and the manufacture is so crude that they clearly could not be employed for any actual use. One cannot help but wonder how the shellpuller design
made its way to India; did someone have a German hunter's knife in his pocket, and told the factory foreman "make the guards look like this" -- ?

Anyone else have one of these in their collection? Anyone got any hard data on this knife? It seems more of a curiosity than anything of any great value; still, they do seem to be fairly rare and I don't feel that I got a bad deal for the sixty bucks that I paid for it.

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[Bill DeShivs]

These are quite simply "fantasy knives." There is no connection to Sheffield.
They do date from the 1940s- as one is clearly visible in a Three Stooges production from that time frame.
The markings are there to deceive. I have owned these, and still have a folding bowie in my collection so marked. These knives are more common than you think. My bet is about half of the collectors have seen one, and many have been taken in by the markings. Some have additional maltese crosses and "No. 6 Sheffield" markings.
Yours has been retipped to compensate for blade peek.

[button_man]

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Thanks Bill ! Since you have found these to be more common than I thought, do you think they were imported commercially
during the late 40s and the 1950s? Also, any info on the specific episode of 'Three Stooges' that shows this knife?
Lastly, do you think they were, in fact, made in India? Thanks again !

.

[Bill DeShivs]

Yes, they are Indian.
The Stooges episode is the one where Shemp swallows a large diamond.
Apparently, these knives were imported commercially, but not necessarily by any large company. No catalogs listing them have been found, to my knowledge. Similar knives could be ordered from Doon Steel Works in Dehra Dun, India in the 1970s. I don't recall them being marked as Sheffield pieces, though. Do a search for "Sheffield Steel" or "No. 6 Sheffield" on Ebay.

[rock-n-roll$$$$$$]

odd but cool auto, and I am a big fan of the 3 Stooges, have them on dvd, and prints, tee shirts, books, etc.

[john]

Hi BM,
I have one of those. I’ll post a photo if I can find it. I gave to my son. He takes it camping and opens beer bottle with the shell pullers.

[Mario]

Always thought this one looked like a Pakistan knife. I got a couple Pakistan leverlock switchblades with a similar lever and bolsters.

[sammy the blade]

Hi BM,
I have one of those. I’ll post a photo if I can find it. I gave to my son. He takes it camping and opens beer bottle with the shell pullers.

At least he's putting it to good use.

[john]

I found a photo

4B9FCD61-F949-410E-93D0-C7DCAE38A3F5.jpeg (89.28 KiB) Viewed 4623 times

[rock-n-roll$$$$$$]

I found a photo

4B9FCD61-F949-410E-93D0-C7DCAE38A3F5.jpeg

wicked cool.