Collectibles With Point

By Robert Reed

As seen in The Antique Shoppe Newspaper, April 2008 

Letter openers, both fanciful and promotional, have been on the 'cutting edge' of society since the latter 19th century.

Sometimes called a paper cutter, paper knife or a letter knife, the basic letter opener gradually became more and more important as the business of letter mailing itself became more and more important.

Initially a major role of the dull knife-like desk device was to slit open pages of book left uncut by printers. But gradually they became an important tool of the fashion desk set in carefully and neatly slicing opening the day's correspondence.

Of course the letter opener was an object which lent itself to a wide variety of materials. On one end of the letter opener scale might be gold, silver, or bejeweled examples. There was also ivory, bone, tortoiseshell, brass, and bronze. Ultimately makers went right on manufacturing letter openers of aluminum, Bakelite, celluloid, plastic, lithographed tin, and even basic and ever available wood.

"Victorian letter openers were always designed to be admired as well as useful," wrote Dan D'Imperio in the book The ABCs of Victorian Antiques, " which accounts for ornate openers with gold or silver handles. Gems both precious and semi-precious further embellished the handles."

Fairly elaborate letter openers were being produced in 1860s England including those as souvenirs from Tunbridge Wells. Such pieces were delicately assembled from wooden mosaic panels into fine designs. The ultimate letter opener crafted there might have an inlaid walnut dog's head with inset glass eyes.

As early as the 1870s in America advertisements in Harper's national magazine offered individual letter openers as well as those with multiple purposes. Ben's Combination Writing and Toilet Instrument, for example, was extremely multiple. It provided a pen, pen-holder, ear spoon, finger-cleaner, toothpick, pencil-sharpener, and an envelope-opener.

The Damascus Blade envelope opener was advertised widely in the 1880s as the ultimate metal blade device. It was recommended for use "in the study, the library, or on the business desk. A gift appreciated by any business man or woman." Price for the "beautifully decorated" opener was 25 cents. For the more generous purchase of that decade there was the silver-mounted 'paper knife' offered in London's finer stores complete with pattern handle and ivory blade at a retail of several dollars.

During the 1890s a number of distinguished firms, including the Pairpoint Manufacturing Company were offering fanciful letter openers for the most regal desk at home or office. Their Garland Paper Cutter heavy with silver plate and further embellished with an engraved blade listed at nearly $4. Other letter openers were available individually from Pairpoint or in sets which included a silver ink tray, top hat ink stand, ink eraser with engraved handle, and a cut glass mucilage bottle.

Meanwhile the equally highly noted Whiting Manufacturing Company offered a wide variety of 'paper cutters' during that same decade. Most were made of the very best sterling silver and were given impressive names including Imperial Queen, Empire, Lily of the Valley, Heraldic, and the Oval Twist.

By 1895 the Montgomery Ward catalog offered selections of 'paper knives' and 'paper cutters' to meet almost every personal taste. Choices ranged from an imitation walrus tooth handle to pearl handled types, and numerous celluloid. Curiously, although such items were generally listed as cutters or knives on individual pages, the massive catalog's index listed them all under letter openers.

Some would suggest that the ultimate, all-time classy letter opener may have been those fashioned by world famous goldsmith Peter Carl Faberge at the dawn of the 20th century. Faberge was of course best known for his legendary jeweled Easter eggs crafted for European royalty late in the 19th century. Faberge and his assistants also used jade, gold enamel, and a few other elements to make a few letter openers equally breathtaking.

The vast majority of the early 20th century letter openers in the marketplace where of the silver plate and sterling silver type. On occasion quality manufacturers would perhaps add jade, ivory, agate, or tortoise to further enhance the silver mounting of the 'letter knife' or letter opener.

Aside from the fine materials, a number of novelty letter openers were being produced around the same period. Handles featured images of famous people from Charles Dickens and Napoleon to Captain John Smith and Abraham Lincoln. There were also figures by artist Kate Greenaway, and a Noah's Ark of animals including alligators, parrots, birds, owls, cows, and dogs.

Letter openers, perhaps because of their simple design yet practical purpose, made a major entry into the world of advertising late in the 19th century too and early in the 20th century.

For two or three decades almost no client was too small or too large for the advertising letter opener. Advertisers from attorneys to harness manufacturers offered them as premiums to favored customers. Joining the parade as well were banks, tanneries, newspapers, lumber companies, pharmacies, buggy makers, foundries, even casket factories.

Most often the brass or bronze letter openers of that era with their embossed or engraved commercial message went to supplies, buyers, and others doing significant business with the distributor. Typically the advertising messages were brief, usually no more than the company name and address. Larger firms sometimes were bold enough to add a company logo or even slogan to the letter opener.

Promotional letter openers also appeared in the major events of the 20th century as well. They memorialized the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, the 1907 Jamestown Exposition, and a host of early state and world fairs.

Under the page title, "gifts that please", The Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog of 1927 offered several celluloid letter openers. Others included a Japanese maid on an ivory-bone version, and a "Lucky Dog" charm attached celluloid type for 15 cents.

As the century wore on the novelty effect of marketing letter openers became steadily greater.

"Letter openers often had double-duty," notes author Everett Grist in the book Collector's Guide to Letter Openers. "They might have a magnifying glass on the handle, a ball point pen on the end, a ruler, or even a cigarette lighter. They were decorated with animals, clowns, Amish couples, windmills, and advertisements."

And there were combination sets to further appeal to the buying customer. In 1934, despite the Great Depression, Sears and Roebuck was offering such a combination set. It included a bone-material letter opener and a similar bone-material bookmark. Price for the two was 23 cents. For a few cents more Sears customers could purchase a metal letter opener in the shape of a sword complete with a cloth tassel.

During the 1940s a number of companies offered a metal letter opener in the form of a military rifle complete with bayonet. The bronze content was polished and the bayonet served as the blade for cutting open envelopes. Many locations adopted similar versions as souvenirs for tourists, especially at historical military sites.

Coca Cola made use of chrome letter openers during the 1940s and early 1950s, reportedly distributing them on a limited basis to local bottling companies. Similarly Texaco distributed pencil and letter opener sets with mother of pearl handles to preferred customers during the1950s.

From the automobile manufacturers to zoos, the choices today----especially for advertising related letter openers----are almost endless.

"There is virtually a letter opener aimed at the collecting desires of almost everyone from quilters to Dutch fanciers, from weapons collectors to advertising collectors, from aluminum buffs to sterling aficionados," concludes Grist.

The author adds, "the opener portion of the letter opener item may be fashioned to resemble the tail of a pheasant, a lady's leg, a marlin's bill, a lizard's tail, or an elf's hat."

Recommended reading: Collector's Guide to Letter Openers by Everett Grist (Collector Books).

Join Our Mailing List

Email:

For Email Marketing you can trust