563 - Ornamental Scissors with Cross, Heart and Anchor, Angel with S as Maker's Mark, 19th Century

Ornamental Scissors with Cross, Heart and Anchor, Angel with S as Maker's Mark, 19th Century Iron, the decoration set off in a lighter tone. Ornamental scissors with strong, dagger-like pointed blades and oval finger rings. Between ring and joint the two limbs widen into shaped cartouches whose ground is hatched with densely set fine lines; against this the smoothly polished pictorial signs stand out in a lighter tone. One limb carries a cross with trefoil-shaped ends to its arms and an anchor below it, the other a heart with an inset sign; together they stand for faith, love and hope. The cartouches are enclosed by a brightly polished, shaped border. On the reverse of one limb, above the joint, a flying angel is engraved holding a large S in its outstretched hands. In age-appropriate used condition, the blades oxidised over their whole surface and pitted with rust in places, the rust extending into the limbs. L. 15.5 cm Faith, love and hope are the three theological virtues from the First Epistle to the Corinthians; since the Middle Ages the cross, the heart and the anchor have stood for them. As a group of three they are among the most widespread motifs of the 19th century and are found alike on jewellery, household goods and needlework implements. Ornamental scissors of this kind belonged to the sewing basket of a middle-class trousseau and were less a tool than a display piece. The Solingen cutlery firms used pictorial marks as their trademarks because these could also be read by customers who could not write; angels and cupids are among the common motifs, and a letter in the figure's hand is the usual addition by which similar pictorial marks of the same type could be told apart, standing as a rule for the initial of the maker. Besides Solingen, scissors of this kind were also made in Nuremberg and in Styria.