Posted 8 years ago
Efesgirl
(1017 items)
I heard from the Church of Satan in regard to my unusual piece:
"It is a fine piece but most likely a letter opener, as you suggested to others.
The designs are inspired by pagan symbolism, but that has been commonplace in European decorative arts for centuries—even in pieces wrought by Christians since the pagan past is romanticized for artistic reason, rather than religious ones.
All best,
Administration
Church of Satan
www.churchofsatan.com"
Thanks for looking/loving, CW friends!
~Bonnie~
Mixed in with a bunch of religious items? I would have passed it right up without ever looking. Have to re-adjust my mindset. GREAT FIND, Bonnie! [;>)
NevadaBlades - I never pass up a table covered in assorted religious objects. Sometimes some really nice antique items can be found on those sorts of tables. I zeroed in on the letter opener right away, lol~!
I'm sure this has already crossed your mind, but for whatever it's worth ~~ French??? German??? English??? Definitely European, I'd say. [;>)
Nevada - it does look European, but also looks like it could have a good deal of age to it. These of decorative paper knives aren't made with this kind of attention to detail today. Melaniej came up with an old company in NY, and the time frame may be when this knife was made. I still have to look into it. I wish I knew what that little 'figure' is stamped next to the initials in the second set of photos. :(
The Merrill Shops
New York, NY
1893- 1931
Whoa! Superb and intriguing!
The scenes are maybe mythological, did you notice how the man on the right in pic 3 is firmly holding the woman?
kyra , yes I did notice that, and also on one side the man is holding the tail of a goat and on the other side the same man looks to be holding the jaw of a lion. The other two people have also changed position.
This is so interesting!
wow !!! im impressed with this one!!
Thanks, SEAN68! It was quite a find for me. Still doing research on it.
Little figure looks like The Merrill Shops "winged dragon" mark....
melaniej - that's interesting. From what I have managed to find out, this is probably a piece made for a medieval fair or some other kind of similar fair and sold as a souvenir. There are some on eBay but in appalling condition. None of those have a mention of the initials "LM" , so that is still a mystery.
real good mystery here Bonnie....
melaniej - is it possible to get a link to that logo mark? I'm looking but not finding....
Grrrr....frustrating. If there are many more of these, then I would think I would find them, but noooooo......
http://www.925-1000.com/ax_merrillshops.html