PICKSLAY'S PERUVIAN STEEL SHEFFIELD 19th Century English Oval button Automatic knife

Antique PICKSLAY'S PERUVIAN STEEL SHEFFIELD 19th Century Oval button Automatic lockback knife made in Sheffield England between 1820 and 1832. This oval button, Dagger grind switchblade is likely 200 years old or more! Charles Pickslay experimented with alloying steel with silver and other elements in the 1820s and called his invention "Peruvian Steel". The blade is much shorter than the frame of the knife, but we believe this was intentionally made this way. The frame needs to be a good size for the hand to hold the knife, but the blade doesn't normally need to be that long and with the extra expense of making the Peruvian steel it would make sense for the blade to only be a good size for most cutting tasks. The blade does not appear to have been altered and only lightly sharpened.

This knife measures 4 5/16 inches closed and 7 5/16 inches open with Coined brass liners and nickel silver bolsters, oval button & pins. The dagger grind blade appears to be mostly full, likely 90% or better and the tang is stamped PICKSLAY'S PERUVIAN STEEL SHEFFIELD. The scales appear to be Ivory and are in good condition with a couple of tiny hairline cracks by pins and a small piece missing by the button as you can see in the pics. The knife works well with the blade tip even with the liners closed, good snap and good lockup open with slight movement each way at the tip. Does not rattle if shaken with blade open. Safety is stuck. VG condition for a 200 year old switchblade.