Artifact: Fork & Knife
Materials: Serviceware
Dimensions: Fork: 7 in.; Knife: 8 1/4 in.
Date: Circa 1750
Origin: Stafordshire, England
Collection: LACMA
License: Public Domain
Ledger Entry: Fork & Knife
Department: Foodways
Customer: William Snoodgrace
Ledger Page: 226
Imported From:
Product Description
Eating with knives and forks was a custom the English imported from Italy beginning in the sixteenth century. By the end of that century in England, upper class individuals were expected to use cutlery such as knives during a meal. Cutlery was more than just a tool for eating, though. These objects were a crucial aspect of a dinner service, itself key to social status in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Citation: Helen Clifford, "Knives, Forks and Spoons, 1600-1830," in Elegant Eating: Four Hundred Years of Dining in Style, ed. Philippa Glanville and Hilary Young (London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2002), 60-63.;
Historical Price: 4 shillings, 6pence for 1 dozen; Modern USD: $50.4
Product Variations
The databases record twenty-six purchases of knives and forks. Forks and knives were typically sold together and usually by the dozen. One set was identified as birch handled and another as bone scaled, indicating that Ramsay sold knives and forks of varying materials and qualities. The prices ranged from two shillings per dozen to six shillings nine pence.
