52/84

Marples & Son Ltd (Manufacturer)

A picking knife is one of a small number of tools used by basketmakers; it was used to trim a finished basket. This picking knife was exhibited at the Festival of Britain. Its blade is stamped with a '3 shamrock' trade mark and the name of its manufacturers, 'W. Marples & Sons, Sheffield, England'.

1 picking knife: wood and metal [brass: ferrrule]; good conditionBlade stamped with 'W. Marples & Sons, Sheffield, England

MERL 'Catalogue index' card – ‘… // DATE ACQUIRED: // GROUP: // NEGATIVE: // PERIOD: // PLACE OF ORIGIN: // NUMBER: // DESCRIPTION: …‘ Basket making remains one of the few crafts into which no machinery has been introduced and it still is almost entirely a manual art. The stock of tools used by the basket maker is very small and usually consists of a beating iron for beating down the weave as the work progresses, shears for cutting, bodkins for making openings in the weave, a shop knife, fashioned from a table knife for pointing the rods before insertion and the picking knife for trimming the finished basket. The picking knife, whose shape has altered but very little throughout the centuries appears with the beating iron upon the Arms of the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers established c.1569... // Bibliography // Jobson, A. Household and Country Crafts Elk 1953 pp 172-177 // Arnold, J. The Countryman's Workshop Phoenix 1953 pp 57-64 // Hartley, D. Made in England Methuen 1931 pp 94 et seq. // Massingham, H. J. Country Relics Cambridge 1939 p. 185 // Bobart, H. H. Basketwork Through the Ages Oxford University Press 1936 //, MERL 'Catalogue of baskets' form – 'NAME: KNIFE (picking) // Acc. No.: 52/84 // Group: CRAFT. WOOD BASKETS // Neg. no.: 35/1673 // Place made: Yorkshire Sheffield. // Period made: 1980 [This is not possible, as the knife was donated to the Museum in 1951] // DESCRIPTION // Materials: wood/pear metal/steel // Maker: W. Marples & Sons // Shape and construction: Steel Blade is almost semi-circular. Bears a stamp of 3-shamrock trade mark & manufacturer’s name. Handle – pear wood. // Dimensions: Total: 6.9”. Blade 3.2” x 1.3” at longest. Handle 3.7” long. // Use: For picking the ends of the willows as the basket was made. // Inscription/mark: “W. Marples & Sons, Sheffield, England” & 3 shamrock trade mark. Position/blade method/stamped // Dialect names: // Distribution: In general use. // Additional notes {A knife of this type appears in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers established c.1569. D.W. [Dorothy Wright]}’

Sheffield

1951 - 1951

Wood, Metal, steel, Metal, brass

Wright, Dorothy (Recorder)