Item:

• F71955: Set Of Bone Handle Knives & Forks By J. RUSSELL COMPANY

Age:

• Late 1800’s

Details:

• 6 Forks/5 Knives From Green River Works

• High Quality Construction

Many industries just did not exist in the United States when we won our independence

for England. From the beginning of colonization the colonies were forbidden to

manufacture in certain industries like silk and cutlery forcing the colonies to buy the high

tech products of the day from the mother country. People like John Russell felt the new

United States should be able to manufacture high quality cutlery at competitive prices

and sought to undercut the monopoly the Sheffield England Guilds had at the time. The

poetic descriptions he read about the cutlery-making in Sheffield appealed to Russell

and on the basis of this romantic attraction he adopted the manufacture of cutlery to be

his life's work. The Russell Cutlery Company was established along the banks of the

Green River in Greenfield MA. in 1833. In 1870 the company built a new factory in

nearby Turners Falls MA. After difficult financial problems brought on by the depression

the Harrington Cutlery Company of Southbride MA. bought out Russell in 1933 and

became Russell - Harrington Company. The merger brought together two famous

names in Cutlery - Dexter and Russell and saved both companies from possible

oblivion. The Russell factory continued for a while in Turners Falls but eventually all the

companies consolidated at the Southbridge location. Today the companies survive as

Dexter - Russell. The Russell factory in Greenfield is considered by historians to have

been the beginnings of the American Mass production metal working industry employing

what has been known as the American Manufacturing System or Armory System to the

cutlery industry.

Condition:

• Excellent Condition - Minor Signs Of Light Household Use-Age

• Some Patina & Pitting To Metal

Size:

• Knife - .75w x .25d x 9h

• Fork - .5w x .25d x 8h