Jukes Coulson & Co, Queen Steel Works

[Hombre]

Should really appreciate opinions about his one... Good and bad...
Knife length: 33 cm, Sheath length: 28 cm.

[David R]

Looks like a decent 18th to early 20th century trade knife of standard form, in a very nice beaded scabbard of "woodlands" Indian (First Nations) pattern. Nice one!

[David R]

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...falo-470983312

[Jim McDougall]

Hombre thank you for posting this! Amazing, we dont see nearly enough of these kinds of weapons from the frontier days, and its exciting to see the arms which came into American Indian use.
David, perfect reference in your entry, thank you.

As shown in that reference, the marking listing Jukes Coulson & Co. predates 1870, and this Sheffield company was one of many making knives for the American market, including the famed Bowie's.

As the firm existed from 1768 as per London directory, it was likely active some years prior. These knives were apparently known by a number of terms, but importantly they were often regarded as 'Hudson's Bay Co.' knives, and found throughout the plains.

It would be interesting to know about the bead work, which is clearly from Plains tribes, and combined with vintage American arms a wonderful pairing.

Attached is a Remington M1867 rolling block pistol in a flap over holster decorated in Shoshone bead work. The Shoshone, along with Crow, allied with US Army in the 1870s as they fought against the Lakota and Cheyenne, who were their enemy.

[Jim McDougall]

It is difficult to accurately identify these many variants of trade blade knives through the many times they changed hands. It is interesting that these knives, also termed 'butcher knives' as well as the other terms noted, also strongly resemble earlier 'machetes' of the Spaniards, which found thier way well into the frontiers. Look at this example from this excerpt.

Obviously the Jukes Coulson example is English, but the comparison is interesting. While used by Spaniards, these often came out of Germany which in turn supplied British markets establishing styles which endured clearly for nearly two centuries.