Antique Pocket-Knives. Ivory & Tortoise Shell (?).

Bought these today. Ivory and tortoise-shell pocket-knives. Cleaned, oiled and sharpened. Ready for service!!

I know what ivory looks like. I've seen enough of it to know it when I see it.

But I don't know that much about T.S.

The guy I bought these from, didn't know either. So I thought I'd ask here.

Are the scales on the larger knife tortoise-shell? Or not? If it helps any, the manufacturer is Southern & Richardson, from Sheffield, a cutlery firm established in 1828.



My inclination is to say YES...



...but I'm not entirely sure.

 

The sterling one's a fruit knife....the other , I'm thinking not shell.....but it's not in my hand.
The Hawksbill turtle is more orange-y , and blotchy , not the straight lines look of your knife.

19th Century Taxidermy Full Hawksbill Turtle



Oh....& authentic Tortoise shell.....comes from the endangered Hawksbill Turtle !

 

In that case, it's probably celluloid.

Oh, and the other one isn't sterling. It just looks like it.

 

If it's celluloid, it's a fair bit later than 1828. They shut down in 1964. Might be some kind of horn.

 

I didn't say it was MADE in 1828, I was the company was founded in 1828.

Some type of horn might be a possibility...it looks too random to be celluloid...

 

Careful....don't yell...

 

Horn is possible !!

I have a MoP sterling fruit knife , so just a look at the marks on your blade made me jump to conclusions.....sorry !

 

Definitely not Sterling. It's just one of those fancy maker's marks that LOOKS like Sterling. Rather frustrating, really.

 

Hm. Think I won't be replying to queries like this in future.

 

Which is why I always use smileys. To be sure, or at least attempt, to have the intent of a statement get through best as possible. Much can be lost and/or misread otherwise. We don't have visual facial expressions to go with a conversation while on line.
I do not understand, OBB, why it's so dang difficult to for some to do this, just 2 more clicks.
I suspect the intent was as you perceived which is why I wrote what I did.

 

Eh.