Antique F. NEWTON Stag Handled Sheepsfoot Folding Knife circa 1850

Here on offer is an early antique F. NEWTON stag handled “Sheepsfoot” folding knife, circa 1850.

Francis Newton was born in about 1776, the son of a well-known grocer. He launched his cutlery business in 1838 in Sheffield, selling cutlery, pen and pocketknives, etc. He became Master Cutler in 1844.
He died in 1864, aged 68, when the business passed to his sons and the firms name was amended accordingly.

As this knife is only stamped with the name F. NEWTON, it must pre date 1864, before the name changed to F. Newton and Sons.

This type of folding pocket knife with a somewhat blunted tip, is called a Sheepfoot, not only because it resembles, in a way, an ovine hoof, but also because it’s a shape that has historically been used for farm work.
However it appears that Sheepsfoot knifes where used in the 19th Century by sailors embarking from England, with a similar looking tool called The London. Characterized by a straight cutting edge and a spine that curves down to meet it at the point, sheepsfoot blades were ideal for seamen because the wide angle of the point helps prevent accidental puncture while, say, working on rigging while floating on an undulating ocean. The flat edge is ideal for slicing and straightforward cutting tasks.

Sheepsfoot knives are practical by design, a fact that hasn’t changed in over two hundred years — today, the shape is often favoured by emergency response teams.

The knife itself has been heavily used and shows a lot of sharping to the curved blade, but it still retains a sharp edge. There is some aged “greying” and scratch marks to the blade finish, but I think this would clean up a bit brighter, if that was preferred?

On one side of the ricasso is stamped:

F. NEWTON
SHEFFIELD

Blade has no snap opening and closing, just a smooth action, with very little side to side play.
The bolsters pins and liners all appear to be made from iron.

The knife has two slices of stag horn that have been shaped to form the tight fit of the grip to the blade liners. The finish of the stag horn grips have been worn to just a beautiful smooth glass like finish through years of use, which I personally love!

One grip slab is in perfect condition and the other has a small section at the top missing

The blade measures 3.5” (9cm) long and the knife itself is a total of 8.1” (20.5cm) long when opened.

It weighs 120g.

Please see my pictures for the details of the condition, which complement this description.

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Code: 50450