English blades on Stieff

Early in it’s history, Stieff used English Carbon Steel Blades and Utensils on some items. This was not uncommon at the time as England had massive steel works cranking out all sorts of fancy victorian era pieces.

These pieces are marked ENGLAND, and predate the Tariff Act of 1930 that requires the country of origin be marked on all pieces, in english.

(The Tariff Act is a law of the United States)

More likely they are marked as such because english goods were held in high regard that having the “Country of Origin” marked on the piece added extra value in the eyes of the consumer.

This 1914 Stieff promotional piece shows the fish sets in Rose.

5.00 Each or 10.00 for the Set.

Same subject, but this is a different pair of knife and fork

The back of the fork

The front of the fork

This is a lone fish knife, missing it’s fork partner

The examples below are a slightly different version of the same theme.

A beautiful fish set for six

Note that on this set the Stieff name runs the parallel with the utensil, and not

as shown above on the other sets. Also the cut of the blade is different.

In June 2010 this group of 12 pieces sold for 637 dollars (US) on ebay

For a period of time.. and I do not know exactly when that was..

Meridian Cutlery Co. England

made the “business end” of the fish sets

This Fish Fork is in the Chrysanthemum pattern

Above photos are from the Angelo DelNegro, who owns the fish fork

Angelo also is a volunteer with the Baltimore Museum of Industry and was instrumental in getting me access to the Stieff Records of the BMI. Items from those records are now shown throughout this site and have been very helpful in telling the story of The Stieff Company. Thank you again Angelo.