KNIFE

A Post Medieval iron folding knife with bone handle dating AD 1500-1700. The object is in three main parts; the front and back of the handle and the blade (inside the handle and encrusted with corrosion material). There are two rivet holes along one edge of the handle which connect the two handle plates and the blade, the rivets are in situ. There is also a rivet hole in the centre of the handle near the butt end, rivet once again in situ. The handle is rounded at the pommel end and tapers towards the blade.

The grip is decorated with incised linear decoration. There is a central panel on the outside of both plates which contains a cross hatch design. The outside edges are decorated with a series of hatching forming rectangular blocks with every other block being filled with hatching engraved perpendicular to the original hatches. There is a two engraved lines separating the central panel from the outer decoration. The handle is significantly damaged so that the extent of the decoration is difficult to determine.

No exact parallels can be found for this object, but similar decoration can be found on the a knife handle on the PAS database: LON-F004E6. MacGregor notes that cross hatching designs like this are common in the post medieval period, having a functional use for improved grip (MacGregor, 1985, 170).

Dimensions: length: 110.55 mm; width: 26.49 mm; thickness: 18.17 mm; weight: 88.29g.

Reference: MacGregor, A. 1985. Bone, Antler, Ivory and Horn. The Technology of Skeletal Materials since the Roman Period. Croom Helm, London and Sydney.