folding knife

[realman]

hi I'm new to this forum , I just recently aquired a silver folding knife that measures just under 6 inches long open and on the blade there are three markings the first is a bust of a person either with horns or a helmet with horns cant tell the horns go straight up at about where the ears line would be , the second mark is very hard to read its 2 letters could be a fancy C & M in the empty space of the c and under the humps of the M there are straight lines running from top of the letter to bottom but not touching it but I cant bee sure ,on the c and m with these other marks .the last mark is an arm and hammer the closest pattern that i can find is a king pattern on the handle . I cant get a clear scan of the marks and I havent figured out how to attach a photoyet , but any help on identifing this would be greatly appreciated

[2209patrick]

Hello.

A drawing of the marks could help.

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Pat.

[realman]

hi here is a pic thanks for the help





thanks for your help I cant seem to get a good scan of marks I will try to draw them soon thanks again

[silverly]

I realize these marks doesn't have the letters that you are seeing but take a look at the Tifft & Whiting marks here and see if any of them look like a possibility: http://www.925-1000.com/americansilver_T.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is just a shot in the dark because I really can't make out what the mark is in the image. If you get somebody to shoot a good clear image of the mark and upload onto tinypic.com and then copy and paste tinypic's forum tag onto a post reply in this thread, it is very likely that you will get an identification for this mark. Good luck with your research.

[2209patrick]

[realman]

hi thank you so much the silverly it was a tifft & whiting folding fruit knife there first set of marks the one with the lady and the fancy t w , I really appreciate your help do you know anymore abou this maker and is his stuff rather common? thanks again

[silverly]

Look here for more information about this manufacturer: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.anc ... 154900.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From my experience alone, I'd say that Tifft & Whiting products are relatively common. However, a fruit knife by them would be very desirable. These knives are quite collectable and speak for the habits of a different time.

The spelling for this company's name is often given in references that are contemporary to your piece as Tift & Whiting.

Good luck with your collecting.

[Jazzman111]

While this post is years old, I thought I'd offer some comments for anyone, like me, who wandered into reading this forum in order to gain or exchange information on American folding fruit knives. Tifft & Whiting formed a partnership in the mid-1800s and were respected silversmiths based in North Attleboro, MA. The company later became the Whiting Manufacturing company. Their fruit knives are especially desirable because of the quality of their workmanship and the readily recognized maker's hallmarks: a cockerel, their maker's mark "T & W", and their arm & hammer stamp, (which leads some beginner collectors to think the knife may have been made in Russia!).