We believe it was possibly made in the UK and was used in the Australian Gold rush and then brought back to the UK after the Boer War.
There is a story that goes with it but we aren’t sure how true it is. The story goes that the main body of it was won in a game of cards but it was missing the fork and spoon. The fork and the spoon were then found on the body of a German solider and that’s how it came back from the Boer War. So it is possible that if that is true, they possibly aren’t the original spoon and fork. But they certainly fit and I have seen another picture of a similar multi tool online and they are identical which suggests they are the correct ones. Probably means the story isn’t true and they were never separate.
I believe it was made by a company called Harrison Brothers and Howson but that’s all I really know about it. We are pretty sure it predates 1850 but we can’t see any markings on it so we aren’t 100% sure.
It has 29 tools on it, but it’s missing the tooth pick and the tweezers. The tooth pick was originally missing so the tweezers were removed around 1960 and given to an engineering technician called Pete at Birmingham University to create a new tooth pick based on the tweezers. Unfortunately Pete died in a car accident and the tweezers were lost.
If anyone has any information at all on it, it will be greatly appreciated. It’s been in our family for a very long time and would like to finally get to the bottom of what it is 😊
Thank you!
by EducationalLight9966