Small Amputation Knife, Circa 1800

This small, unusually shaped surgical knife is 18 cm long and the blade is only 7 cm. It is signed "VF Acier fondu Paris" and bears the hallmark of the Vitry brothers. The Vitry brothers established their cutlery business in Paris in 1795. This knife can be dated to around 1800 or the very beginning of the 19th century. This small knife is illustrated in Jourdain's work, Traité des maladies et des opérations réelleschirurgicales de la bouche, Paris, 1778, volume 2, plate 1, figure 4. Jourdain describes it as a "curved knife or a kind of small billhook." Jourdain used it to incise tumors or other soft parts or growths. Good condition and beautiful patina. This form of amputation knife for soft tissue surgery is rare and so are the Vitry brothers' instruments from this period.