The fascinating origins of the “penny for a knife” custom, from ancient Rome to Sheffield. Learn why a coin was exchanged saved friendships.
Not all that long ago, the tradition of a penny for a knife was a common practice. Today the custom appears to be barely clinging to relevance, though as traditions go there is the possibility that it may linger and even gain new traction. That, however, remains to be seen.
The old story goes that when someone gives a knife to someone else, the recipient is obliged to present the giver with a penny as a token of appreciation or even as an insurance policy. The origins of the old custom are shrouded in mystery and have become more obscure with the passage of time. Nonetheless, there is a larger aspect to the tradition, and that is its questionable staying power in the modern milieu that is the world of knives.
Is the old practice virtually clinging to life? Apparently so. A few folks contacted for the story were frank in their assessment. Phil Gibbs of A.G. Russell Knives in Rogers, Arkansas, went to the buying public and then conferred with his boss, BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-of-Fame® member Goldie Russell, both longtime participants in all things knife.
“I’ve polled customers in our store since we first discussed this, and zero people were aware of the old custom,” Phil remarked. “Goldie and I agree that it was once quite prevalent but now is long gone and forgotten.”
The late Cutlery Hall-of-Famer A.G. Russell knew the custom well but sometimes found himself having to explain it a bit.
“Sometimes people look at me funny,” he said years ago of the times he gave a knife to someone and asked for a penny in return, “especially when they are younger. The younger they are, the funnier they look at me. I just think it’s a matter of their not knowing about it.
“As I was growing up, I saw it being done, not just once but many times. I still do it myself. I insist on compensation. It may end up being a quarter if they don’t have a penny, nickel or dime. I knew a man years ago who liked to give knives away, and he would give the knife away with a penny and then make you give the penny back.”
Veteran knife dealer Bill Claussen of Northwest Knives in Salem, Oregon, is another source who definitely would be in the know regarding the tradition, and his assessment was a straight-up, “I really don’t have anything to offer on this one. This is really not ‘old knife’ country out here, and I never even heard of this until a few years ago,” he noted, “and then I never heard it discussed.”
The tradition may well be on life support. While it is likely fading or the sun has quite possibly set on it altogether, there are related memories. Matter of fact, this writer put together a BLADE® story on the topic some 26 years ago. Coincidentally, I had just experienced the tradition in action. When I handed a nice folder to a close friend, his wife piped up, “Now you have to give Mike a penny. My mother and father never gave one another anything with an edge without receiving a penny in return.” Even then, my friend’s wife had no idea where the practice had originated.
Penny For A Knife Origins
In that BLADE story 26 years ago, Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Bruce Voyles related that he believed the custom originated in ancient Rome.
“The general theory was that you would ask for the lowest coin of the realm when you were given a knife,” he said. “Back then, when you were dealing with an absolute monarch and the king or queen handed you a knife of their own, you were expected to kill yourself with it. But, if the king demanded a coin from you, then he was giving you the knife.”
Well-known knife dealer Jim Taylor, who grew up in Sheffield, England, remembered the penny for a knife custom as it was practiced in his family. “When I was a little boy,” he recalled years ago, “I had to give my mom a penny before she would give me a pocketknife she had bought for me. It might have been a particular Sheffield custom that became popular.
“I’ve always expected to be given a coin, whatever it might be, any coin at all. In England you don’t have to explain it, but in the United States sometimes the custom is not held so tightly. If I were to take someone a gift of a pocketknife in England, they would without question give me a coin. They think, ‘You must buy this because otherwise it might cut our friendship.’ I’ve seen knives from time to time with an old English farthing or half penny built into them.”
That was then.
Even Queen Elizabeth II participated in the tradition. The Sheffield Star newspaper dutifully reported in its Dec. 12, 1986, edition that the Queen visited the city and was presented with a platinum penknife and responded by handing the presenter a six-pence coin in a case. Thirty-five years earlier, the monarch had visited Sheffield and handed a cased half penny to the giver in exchange for a gold penknife.
In fact, the practice was so widespread at one time that according to Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Bernard Levine, one of the foremost knife writers and folklorists, Gerber knives were often sold in the 1940s with an accompanying card that explained the penny for a knife tradition. The card even had a penny glued to the top along with the declaration of “invoice” and then space for a name along with the instruction, “debtor to” and then “1 box of Gerber Blades … 1 cent.”
Levine said the Gerber card explained the legend a bit further. “There is a superstition, or something, about giving away cutlery … etc., so I trust you will honor this bill,” the card stated. “Besides, I need the money.”
FRIENDSHIP CUTTER
Years ago, Cutlery Hall-of-Famer Dan Dennehy indicated that he had grown up with the tradition.
“If someone in our family gave you a pocketknife, they got a coin,” he recalled. “The value didn’t matter just as long as it was legal tender. If somebody gave you a knife, a letter opener, anything with a sharp edge, or even a butter knife, you always gave a coin in return because if you didn’t collect a payment it would cut your friendship.”
Those who remembered the old practice seemed convinced a quarter century ago that fear of “cutting the friendship” was their prime motivation. Knifemaker John Dennehy, Dan’s son, remembers his close association with it.
“I’ve thought about this and don’t have any firm history about it,” John reflected. “I do remember my dad spoke about it a lot. Giving a knife as a gift can sever the friendship, so he always asked me for a quarter or something when I was a kid and a dollar as an adult. He often told the story about being on the radio with G. Gordon Liddy [talk show host, attorney and FBI agent involved in the Watergate scandal of the 1970s] and presenting him a knife. Gordon was prepared and had a silver dollar ready to give Dan. Being first-generation Irish in the U.S., he claimed it was an old Irish tradition. In the books and TV show Outlander, Jamie Fraser, the Scottish highlander, gifts his wife a custom knife. He asks her for a little something in return—says it’s an old Scottish tradition. That’s not much, but I did grow up with the tradition and carried it forward.”
In doing some research sometime back, it became apparent that the tradition has been a cross-cultural phenomenon. In Scandinavia, for example, it’s seriously bad luck to outright give someone a knife. A knife that was gifted but not meant to be a “killing knife” had a coin accompanying it with the initials of the maker. That would ensure the knife’s good use. Along with the knife an old saying, “A man without a knife is a man without a life,” added to the Scandinavian sincerity of the event.
Despite the fact that the tradition may be fading or has already slipped into history, some way or somehow it may experience a revival. Levine and many others seemed to love it. Some still do. After all, it adds to the quaintness and charm that surrounds the exchange of a knife with a friend or family member.
Tradition is a common thread that just makes the giving more memorable and enriches the experience for everyone. In these days of inflation, it’s cheap, too. It only costs a penny.
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