EXTREMELY RARE, VERY EARLY WOLFE & CLARKS BOWIE KNIFE.

EXTREMELY RARE, VERY EARLY WOLFE & CLARKS BOWIE KNIFE. SN NSN. Beautiful early Bowie, 14-1/2″ overall with 9-7/8″ clip point blade with 7-1/8″ back grind, 5/16″ thick at bolster, with integral thick bolster marked on left side “WOLFE & CLARKS / NEW YORK”. Blade has a dbl Spanish notch at the choil, is flat ground with beautiful etched panels of foliate arabesque & shamrock patterns on both sides of blade. Handguard & handle are cast integrally of German silver with shell engraving pattern on both sides and a fleur-de-lis shaped short dbl handguard. It has a bulbous pommel with flat applied German silver cap with fine grained stag scales secured with eight German silver pins. Each side has a long narrow German silver escutcheon secured with three German silver pins. Accompanied by its orig leather sheath with German silver tip & throat with a frog stud on front of throat. Throat & tip have raised ribs at their top edges with the throat having leaf pattern langettes with incised borders. Leather is back stitched. While this beautiful Bowie is not maker marked it is almost without question the work of Jonathan Crookes of Sheffield made for Wolf & Clarks who were importers of hardware & guns at 193 Maiden Lane in Manhattan, NY in the period 1836-1844. There are four nearly identical knives pictured in two Bowie knife books. Two are found on p. 361 of The Bowie Knife Book, Flayderman. Both have identical handles with identical markings on bolsters with identical shell pattern engraving. Another somewhat more plain, is found on p. 312 of The Antique Bowie Knife Book, Adams, Voyles & Moss. This knife is directly attributed to Jonathan Crooks and is nearly identical in all respects to our knife. Still another of the Jonathan Crooks knives and so marked on the left side of bolster is found on p. 334 of the same book. Blade shape of this knife is slightly different with file work on the spine and has a slightly different shaped handle with ivory scales. However, there is no doubt all of these knives were made by the same maker. The main difference between the knives pictured in these books and our knife is the fact that ours is in vastly superior condition. CONDITION: Extremely fine. Blade retains most of its orig polish with virtually all of the etched decorations visible on both sides of blade. Markings are clear and the stag handles are in extremely fine condition. There are a few scattered spots of light rust on the right side of the bolster with a few small spots at tip of blade. The sheath is nearly completely intact with a couple of small holes in the German silver tip with some minor flexing on body and flaked loss of finish. A truly magnificent early Bowie. 4-31665 JR204 (20,000-30,000)

Auction: Firearms - Spring 2008

Please Note: All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

Image	Lot	Price	Description
	1380	$25,875.00	EXTREMELY RARE, VERY EARLY WOLFE & CLARKS BOWIE KNIFE. SN NSN. Beautiful early Bowie, 14-1/2″ overall with 9-7/8″ clip point blade with 7-1/8″ back grind, 5/16″ thick at bolster, with integral thick bolster marked on left side “WOLFE & CLARKS / NEW YORK”. Blade has a dbl Spanish notch at the choil, is flat ground with beautiful etched panels of foliate arabesque & shamrock patterns on both sides of blade. Handguard & handle are cast integrally of German silver with shell engraving pattern on both sides and a fleur-de-lis shaped short dbl handguard. It has a bulbous pommel with flat applied German silver cap with fine grained stag scales secured with eight German silver pins. Each side has a long narrow German silver escutcheon secured with three German silver pins. Accompanied by its orig leather sheath with German silver tip & throat with a frog stud on front of throat. Throat & tip have raised ribs at their top edges with the throat having leaf pattern langettes with incised borders. Leather is back stitched. While this beautiful Bowie is not maker marked it is almost without question the work of Jonathan Crookes of Sheffield made for Wolf & Clarks who were importers of hardware & guns at 193 Maiden Lane in Manhattan, NY in the period 1836-1844. There are four nearly identical knives pictured in two Bowie knife books. Two are found on p. 361 of The Bowie Knife Book, Flayderman. Both have identical handles with identical markings on bolsters with identical shell pattern engraving. Another somewhat more plain, is found on p. 312 of The Antique Bowie Knife Book, Adams, Voyles & Moss. This knife is directly attributed to Jonathan Crooks and is nearly identical in all respects to our knife. Still another of the Jonathan Crooks knives and so marked on the left side of bolster is found on p. 334 of the same book. Blade shape of this knife is slightly different with file work on the spine and has a slightly different shaped handle with ivory scales. However, there is no doubt all of these knives were made by the same maker. The main difference between the knives pictured in these books and our knife is the fact that ours is in vastly superior condition. CONDITION: Extremely fine. Blade retains most of its orig polish with virtually all of the etched decorations visible on both sides of blade. Markings are clear and the stag handles are in extremely fine condition. There are a few scattered spots of light rust on the right side of the bolster with a few small spots at tip of blade. The sheath is nearly completely intact with a couple of small holes in the German silver tip with some minor flexing on body and flaked loss of finish. A truly magnificent early Bowie. 4-31665 JR204 (20,000-30,000) Auction: Firearms - Spring 2008 Please Note: All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

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