This knife has some similarities to the last one.  Its handle is also ivory.  The blade is iron and brass.  The seller listed the knife as Polish, either 18th or 19th century.













The circumcision knife on the left was sold by a Scandinavian antiques dealer. The close-up photo below it highlights the beautiful gilding and filigree work.  The knife is likely Swedish, from the 17th or 18th century. 











This is a 19th century circumcision knife from Central Europe.  The handle is made of agate, and the blade is of forged steel.  The finial and bolster are silver. 

Although the other knives on this page have double-sided blades, this knife's blade is sharpened on just one side.  The agate handle makes this knife a bit heavier than the others. 


Above is a 19th century silver German circumcision knife with ornate floral and foliate engravings.






The interesting circumcision knife to the left has a handle which depicts the binding of Isaac as written in Genesis. The Israeli auction house suggested that the knife originated from 18th century Europe.

A year prior another auctioneer offered the same knife and dated it as 20th century. The lack of fine detail on the handle makes this a more likely assessment.
















A Brooklyn auction house listed the knife below as a "very old circumcision knife, most likely Sephardic in origin."  I was told the handle is gilded silver.  On two sides of the handle are Hebrew inscriptions which are too worn to read.  On the other two sides are floral decorations.


I discovered that a different auction house sold what appears to be the exact same knife (along with a shield) six months prior.  In that listing, the knife was described as brass, Eastern European, mid-19th century.  Interesting!

To the left is a circa 1890 circumcision knife.  Its handle is mother-of-pearl.  The knife is marked on the handle:  H. PAPE/*ACHFL.  It has a fitted case. 

Addendum:  A kind person wrote to me about her shochet (butcher) knife marked with the same inscription.  A little  research revealed that this knife is from H. Pape Nachfl., a company that was located in Memel, East Prussia (now Klaipeda, Lithuania). 


Below is a circumcision knife marked G. Grunewald, another late 1800s model. 





Underneath and to the left is another knife from Grunewald and shows the knife blade prior to repeated use and sharpening.  This knife is pictured on the Phisick website.  Phisick is a wonderful collection of medical antiques.  






Here's a lesson:  because the knife below resembles a circumcision knife, a Swedish antiques dealer contacted me.

Intrigued, I purchased the knife from him.  Once I received the knife, I noticed a few things that seemed out of place--the embossing on the blade and the rounded corners of the blade where it meets the handle.  These are not typical of circumcision knives. 

I posted a photo on a knife discussion forum and quickly received an answer from knife expert Bernard Levine.

This is a Swedish paper knife, used in the 1800s and early 1900s to fold letters and cut open the pages of new books.  It is a substantial knife, 7-3/4 inches long, with a nice ivory handle.  The embossing, worn with age, is a nice, intricate design.

I'll sell it if someone is interested.  Please contact me at CircCentral at yahoo dot com. 

The mohel uses a circumcision shield (Hebrew: מָגֵן magen) to assist in removing the foreskin.  Click the button below to see some examples of circumcision shields.



Copyright 2006-2024, Robert Lehrer, MD