[ b1257 ] Ivory hilt silver mounted etched gold rush bowie

Description

scalloped edge ivory hilt Bowie knife, silver fittings, blade etched as per images, maker is Brooks & Crooks Sheffield, with VR above for Victoria Regina. British made knife for the American market. No sheath with the knife.as with most items i am open to an offer or trade for something of interest

some background of the company is below

This firm had its roots in the activities of John Brookes (1825-1865), who was the son of Jonathan Brookes (a cutler living in Broomhall Street) and his wife, Gertrude. His younger brother was Jonathan Brookes. By 1851, John had launched his own business. At the Great Exhibition (1851), he displayed ‘articles suitable for ladies’ work-boxes and gentleman’s dressing cases, made in steel, ivory and pearl; button hooks, nail files, tweezers, corkscrews and stilettos’. He received an Honourable Mention from the Exhibition jurors. By 1854, he was in Mulberry Street and advertised in the local directories.

In 1858, John Brookes was joined by Thomas Crookes (1826-1912). The latter was the son of John Crookes, a saw grinder in Owlerton, and his wife, Ruth. In 1851, Thomas was a solicitor’s managing clerk. How he met Brookes is unknown, though both were Nonconformists. They acquired a warehouse, workshops, engine-house, and grinding wheel behind a house at 58 St Philip’s Road. The factory, Atlantic Works, was previously occupied by Thomas Wigfall and Charles Cutts. In the summer of 1858, the partners entertained their workmen and their invited friends to a day of cricketing and toasting at The Plough Inn, Sandygate. Brookes underlined the partners’ intention to produce first-class goods, while Crookes promised a just remuneration for labour. These were common sentiments but had some substance: Brookes and Crookes were already known for paying bonuses for new designs (Sheffield Independent, 19 June 1858).

In 1859, Brookes & Crookes appeared in Melville’s Commercial Directory of Sheffield as ‘manufacturers of spring knives and dressing case instruments’. John Brookes told the Census in 1861 that the factory employed about 50 men. But the partnership proved short-lived. Brookes died at West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, near Wakefield, on 14 February 1865. He was aged only 39 and had died from apoplexy and ‘chronic disease of the brain’. He was buried in the General Cemetery in an unconsecrated grave, leaving under £800. His tombstone still stands in the Cemetery.. Thomas Crookes took over the business and was helped by William Westby, his works manager. Westby had been born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, in about 1823. By 1861, Westby and his family had moved to Atlantic Works, where Westby was the manager of the spring knife department. Westby became a partner, continuing to reside at Atlantic Works, and managing the business while Thomas Crookes undertook frequent sales trips. In the Census (1871), Westby described himself as a spring knife manufacturer employing 80 men, 20 boys, and eight girls.