Thepenny knife was a originally a simple 18th centuryutility knife with a fixedblade. It got the namepenny knife because it cost 1 penny in England and America towards the end of the 18th century.[1]
The famousFuller's Penny Knife helped gain the reputation ofSheffield, England cutlers in thepre-industrial era of the early 18th century.[2]
Thepenny knife later evolved into a basic, mass-producedpocketknife with a folding blade, which pivoted freely in and out of the handle without a backspring or other device to hold it in position (other than the frictional pressures of the knife handle). This type of knife was popular with farmers in the United States, England, France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain for much of the 19th and part of the 20th century, and consequently is often called afarmer knife,sodbuster knife, orpeasant knife.[3]
Antique penny knives have increased in value and can sell for up to US $500 or 400 Euros.
In modern production, the smallest models of theOpinel, a late 19th-century peasant's knife, continue to use this basic design, consisting of a folding blade pivoting on an axle mounted through a steel-bolstered wooden handle.[4]
