An Interesting Silver Penknife

[WillFly]

A member of another watch forum was selling this silver penknife  - and I bought it on a whim. He'd originally bought it to use as a case opener but changed his mind - hardly looked at it, in fact. So - typical me - I bought it on whim, just because I liked the look of it. Just for a few quid.

 

Anyway, I got it this morning, cleaned it up with a silver cleaning cloth and took a good look at it with a loupe. It's hallmarked for Sheffield, 1947, and has the Sheffield City coat of arms engraved on one side. The other side had a signature engraved on it - "A.V. Alexander". So I idly looked up A.V. Alexander on Google - and discovered that a chap of that name was a Labour Co-operative peer, three times 1st Lord of The Admiralty, etc., etc. All about him here:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._V._Alexander,_1st_Earl_Alexander_of_Hillsborough

 

I thought - could he be the same man who's signature is on my knife? So I found an image of the actual signature of Earl Alexander of Hillsborough - and here are the two signatures (ignore the top name on the signature paper):

 

 

What fun! Presumably his personal property...

Edited September 11, 2014 by WillFly

[Mark]

Awesome - you should look up his family maybe they would want it (I see profit here) :)

[bobm12]

Nice piece of history Will! I also collect knives but mine are just utilitarian, nice to handle...and pretty to look at! Not much of history in my collection. I use them mostly for the occasional hunting trip and others for cooking (also occasionally).

 

Do you think you can get a reward for yours?

Edited September 11, 2014 by bobm12

[WillFly]

A quick bit of research has got me to a descendant (grandson) of A.V. Alexander - alive and well and living in Northumberland. I might contact him... not sure...

[Geo]

Hercule Fly strikes again!

Well done Will, great find and super research.

[autowind]

Have you ever thought about prospecting for gold?  I know I would never find any but I reckon you'd strike lucky 1st time out.  Another nice find and a piece of history.