Rare Antique Edward Barnes Sheffield / American Bowie Knife Excellent Cond. L@@K

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Rare Antique Edward Barnes Sheffield / American Bowie Knife Excellent Cond. L@@K:
$2495.00

An important antique English Sheffield / American Bowie knife circa 1855. It appears to bein excellent conditionand has not been abused or cleaned as far as I know. It was purchased from an Ohio estate where it had been past down in the family until I aquired it. Provenance goes back to the mid 1850\'s, prior to the Civil War.

Thanks to a very helpful er the knife has been identified as having been made by Edward Barnesand bears his prominent U. S. and 5 pointed star makers mark at the base of the 7 inch bowie clip blade.The leather sheath is original and in remarkable condition with the belt loop still attached, although it has come loose on one side. Overall length is 12 1/2 inches.

The blade is quite heavy and there is no doubt it had one primary purpose. I am guessing itwas gentlysharpened maybe once or twice back in the day, nevertheless you can still see the vast majority of the original polish on the blade.There are no nicks that I can see or feel. To top it off, the handle is German silver of the best quality and features exquisite scroll work. This \'Tulip\' style German silver handle; as some ers have called it; is also seen on other Barnes Bowies\' of the period.

Some people / collectors dispute that a Barnes\' Sheffield Bowieis not American, but I disagree. America was an English colony for well over 150 years pror to the 1776 Revolution, and was largely populated and explored by the English from 1621 on ( Jamestown excluded ). Even after the Revolution itwas still looked at as an English colony lostby the British Crown well into the late 19th. century.

Barnes produced his Bowies\' for the American market, and clearly drew from American design and history in his symbolism to enhance sales. A few analogies / comparisons will support this.

Firstly, true antique American pewter DOES NOT EXIST, yet all sources attribute English pewter reworked in the Colonies as American. Strange, yet the vast majority of American pewterers prior to the Civil War were of English birth; or first / second / third generation decendants of former English subjects. The fact is that the English Crown heavilytaxed raw metals ( tin, lead, brass, silver, gold, etc. ) so highly prior to the Revolutionthat Americans could not afford to buy them, henceAmerican merchantsIMPORTED and soldthe vast majority of finished pewter goods at a lower price than the American colonists could make them forlocally. The English Crown did this deliberately to keep the colonists under their grasp and to ensure a strongly positive Englishtrade balance. However, pewter generally wore out in about 6 months becauseit was soft and the \'poor mans\' silver. Local English pewterers who had come from England to work / live in America recycled worn pewter to make new flatware and holloware on an approximate50% cost / labor basis. Not surprisingly, most early\'American\' pewterers copied the style ofEnglish marks to make their wares more saleable / desireable. So; when was a distiction made that British subjects living / working in the Colonies were American? What about pewterers who worked and sold pewter in both England and America? And what about tin, the primary metal in Pewter? There were no tin mines in America, it was all exported by the British.

The second example is American silver. In general, prior to the Civil War, American silversmiths werelargely of English birth or descent. English silver was .925 parts pure, or \'Sterling\', but American silver was generally .900 fine, or \'coin\' silver, alluding to the melting and recycling of silver coins in America to make holloware. A line could be strictlydrawn on the purity of the silver used, but is this appropriate? Even Paul Revere, arguably America\'s most famous silversmith was was of French / English desent. He was born inBoston in 1734 to a French father andwas technically a French citizen. However, living in the colonies under British rule more or less made him an English subject. Following the British \'Stamp Act\' of 1765 he participated in protests against British rule and supported Independance, but did this make him \'American\'? Not at all. In a melting pot of cultures and religions, where do you draw the exact connection? Is it where you were born, work,or later move to?

The third example is probably the most applicable whenthinking aboutAmerican Bowie style knives. It is the \'American\' flintlock or long rifle. The \'Golden Age\' of \'American flintlock rifles\' should then be more appropriatelyrenamed the \'French GermanColonial\' period; or arguably the \'German French American\' period in deferenceto the men who made them. Yet collectors of American flintlocks agressively seek these rare and early \'American\' long rifles. They don\'t label them as French, German or European influence, origin, or design. In my collection passed down through the family is a rare earlyflintlock by the \'American\' maker L. H. Le Claire with a 41\" octagon barrel. I know of only one other in existence.

So back on point, if Edward Barnes made American style Bowie knives in Sheffield England for sale to Americans before, during, and after the American Civil War; shouldn\'t they share the same distinction as being decidedly American? If you disagree; would it make a difference if Barnes moved to America in 1850 and set up a factory here while still also continuing to run his factory in Sheffield? Did \'American\' makers use imported Sheffield steel?

Hmmm. Food for thought?

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