Need help dating this knife

Hi everyone!

I was wondering if anyone could help me date this knife? I found it metal detecting. It was located near a Lalance & Grosjean enameled bowl and an old iron. Any help that you can give is appreciated. The area was settled in 1804. The knife is 9 1/8" long and the blade part is 7'8" and tapers down to by about 1/16" and is 5 1/4" long and has a slight arc to it. I can't tell what type of metal it is. I can't find any marks.

Sam

 

I looked under a high powered magnifying glass and did not see anything. I placed it in a sonic cleaner with a degreaser to bust the scale off and the scale is coming off and the metal is turning purple. It looks green in some places, so it might be brass?

Sam

 

The base metal of these old one piece knives could have been "german silver" or "nickel silver" (neither of which contains any actual silver) and were sometimes silver plated. You don't usually see them in brass. Before electroplating with silver became common (mid-1800s) "german silver" cutlery was commonly in use.

Note - I have no idea whether (in this condition) this particular knife is that old.

 

As Bakers said above.
However, they often had carbon steel blades with silver plate over them. Handles would have been silver plate.
Only occasionally do you see sterling handles.

The shape of the blade started changing I think in the 1940s.

I love these old knives when in good condition. You can actually cut something with them. It's what we use for everyday. Unfortunately, the blades rust.

 

Good news everyone! I was able to clean off the blade and under the corrosion I found the mark, "DEMMLER & SCHENCK CO. 434 PENN AVE PITTSBURGH PA." It looks like they were incorporated in 1906, so the knife would be some time after.