A.J. Jordan 7pc Carving & Fish Service Set C.1900

A.J. Jordan 7 piece set with large carving knife and fork, smaller poultry carving knife and fork, hexagonal sharpening steel and silver plated fish fork and knife serving set.

Marked AaA1 A.J. Jordan Sheffield & St Louis (1878-1929), Andrew Jackson Jordan was an American from St Louis who set up a knife manufacturing business in Sheffield (the East India works) and imported knives to the USA made at the East India Works and on contract for A J Jordan by other Sheffield manufacturers.

This set has carbon steel blades, steel and forks, silver plated brass on fish service set, silver plated ferrules and butt caps and stag grips. Blades have some scuffs to the sides from errant sharpening but are still very full. The large carving knife is especially large at 10.5” from tip to handle, the small poultry knife is a more modest 6.5” but very useful for chicken and smaller sized birds. The springs on the folding guard of the forks are nice and firm with no wiggle. The different colors on the handles reflect which of these have been washed more than others, they originally had a the darker hue seen on the fish fork.

The “Sheffield and St Louis” marking is less common, the Copley’s patent on the fork is from the late 1880’s, this and the design on the butt caps looks to me like circa 1900 manufacture but that could be as late as the 20’s, however, not having “England” on the markings suggests that the manufacture could be prior to 1891 when all country of origin were mandated marked on products imported to the USA unless it was made for A J Jordan in the USA which would be a new one for me to find on an AJ Jordan contract set. A little mystery but a beautiful set