52 Tuesdays: Favorite Thrifts #19

What: Silver (sort of) Butter Knives 
Where: Helping Hands Thrift Store, WA
Level of Love: 7 out of 10

I can't remember the story behind us picking up these knives, or if there really was one. I'm pretty sure Kevin spotted them and picked them out. I'm also pretty sure his affinity for them was inspired by the style and contents of the photos in Gordon Ramsay's Great British Pub Food. The book itself was not a thrift, but rather a gift I purchased for Kevin while we were living in Scotland, and saved to give to him as a surprise Christmas gift when we were back in the US. It really does have some lovely pictures and recipes. 

What I love about these knives is their nice, heavy feel and pleasing shape. I'm a fan of the symmetrical, round-tipped butter end. The "199 R" stamp on the handle is pretty swoon-worthy as well. But since I don't have a great story for these knives, I thought I'd do a little bit of research on them and share what I found. 

The inscription reads "WM. A. Rogers Silver Nickel R". First off, turns out this means it's not a silver knife at all, but is rather made up of an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc. The only thing "silver" about it is the color. "WM. A. Rogers" means William Rogers, who was a silversmith in the 1800's (1865 as a start to be exact). It seems that the mark, the ownership of the company, and license to use the mark changed over time. The mark "WM. A. Rogers" was used as early as 1897. But that doesn't really help date my knives, since the mark was used even after Oneida purchased the company in 1929 and used the mark as late as 1978. Some resources I found suggested that "Oneida" was added to the mark after 1929, so since that is absent from mine the knives must be from before 1929. I'm not 100% sure about this, though, since I couldn't find an exact match picture of my mark to match with a more specific date range. As for the 119 R, I think this has to do with the model or style of the knife. I couldn't find a match to any other knifes with this mark, but I think this is a fairly educated guess. 

Here ends my half-hearted attempt at a history lesson. I think I like purchasing and using these just because I like them, and not because they're valuable or noteworthy in a collector sense. So, with that, it's time I go butter some bread...