© Ken Hawley Collection Trust - K.0586
This old French-style hollow pistol-grip table knife (with its ‘English tip’) is branded ‘GENTRY’. The brand name belonged to Eisenberg-Lozano Inc. of New York City, which had been founded in 1953 by Arthur Eisenberg and Neal Lozano as an importer of silverware and pewter. They commissioned stainless steel cutlery and silver-plated flatware (and holloware) from the UK (mainly Sheffield) and other countries and then distributed these products throughout the USA. The ‘EL’ and crown mark was used from 1964 until 1970. In that year, the company was purchased by Kirk International and thereafter products were branded ‘GENTRY’ with the logo ‘KI’. Eisenberg and Lozano relied upon B. & J. Sippel as their main supplier in Sheffield – business which eventually gravitated to Arthur Price & Co, when Sippel’s encountered difficulties.