Description

This was a one piece knife – spoon combination which has had the spoon subsequently broken off. It is marked for the Ulster Knife Company, NY on the blade. The rest of the piece is in good shape and serviceable as a pocket knife. Solid rosewood pinned handle in the same design as made by several makers of these combinations during the period and will display very well as  a typical CW pocket knife, etc. The spring mechanism and lock on this piece is still very nice and firm with a tight snap opening and closing. It was acquired by an ancestral family member whilst working for a very reputable firm in the G-burg area dealing in antiquities, and related collectibles, books and numismatics. Indicated as carried by a Gettysburg veteran and then local tradesman as pocket knife for years after the battle and the spoon broke. (what any practical soldier would do!) Traded by the shop owner for a new pocket knife in the 1880s and then acquired near the turn of the century from the dealer. Note: In our research I found conflicting information on this maker with the possibility of more than one marked for Ulster, a NY County, a town, and knife making guild as well. I have found documentation of very reputable dealers in CW artifacts, their catalogs, and relic references, selling and identifying this exact piece as a CW era production, even with named soldier’s provenance. (complete with spoon for $175-250.00) Other information, referencing the later acquisition of an “Ulster Knife Company”  contained in the larger company’s history, rather ambiguously states they bought the firm “dating from the 1870s”. Priced accordingly, despite associated provenance, all plausible, whether he carried it during the war or not.