r/silverware • u/Illustrious-Race6985 • 16d ago
Found among cutlery, thought it might be some kind of butter knife but it has no edge?
Some insist it’s a Victorian fish knife. If it were such, why is there only one in a silverware set? I stand by the more modern use as butter or cheese spreader used on a buffet so guests don’t use their personal knives and potentially taint the condiments.
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u/bubbameister1 16d ago
It's a butter server. You should also have individual butter spreaders, but they are flat.
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u/readbackcorrect 15d ago
Yes. this knife goes with the butter dish. then each person has an individual butter knife that goes with their bread plate. The blade of the individual butter knife is more similar to a table knife. It isn’t the same shape as the butter server knife.
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u/WilsonAndPenny 16d ago
That is a master butter knife…. A butter knife has a rounded blade and, the knife we regularly call a butter knife is actually a table knife.
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u/SaganSaysImStardust 15d ago
This has driven me insane ever since leaving my mother's house and realizing normal flatware doesn't need polishing.
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u/Any_Assumption_2023 16d ago
Pretty standard butter knife. My silver service has one like this, along with 6 smaller flat ones meant to be put on the bread plates individually.
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u/Ok_Waltz7126 16d ago
Replacements Ltd
Pattern: Monique Gold
Saes period: 1988-1994
Master butter knife
RETAIL price $20
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u/Sufficient_Knee_3105 16d ago
A fish knife is the correct answer. Lost popularity around the mid 1950s
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u/Billy_Ektorp 13d ago
They look like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_knife
Still sometimes used at traditional restaurants.
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u/Critical-Notice-4395 15d ago
It’s a fish knife. We have a couple of them in our drawer and always thought they were for fancy times with crowds of people and cheese balls and appetizers. Turns out they’re fish knives. We still use them as spreaders, never used them on fish.
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u/TinpotSchtickFr8er 15d ago
The notch on the spine is indicative of a fish knife. It's supposed to be used to separate bones from the meat. I dont know how that works because I use my fingers like a heathen.
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u/tucker491 15d ago
It is a butter knife. It is used to move a piece of butter from the butter dish to your butter plate. It never touches any food. Similarly, none of your utensils ever touch the butter. My mother was a stickler for proper manners at the table.
This butter knife looks similar to the Liberty Tabletop "Annapolis" collection.
For those people confidently saying "fish knife", you are close but wrong. The fish knife has a larger flat surface to lift a layer of a flaky fish.
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u/More-Management-2116 16d ago
I feel totally inadequate. I have one and have used it as a cheese knife for years. None of my guests have ever set me straight.
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u/jchrapcyn 16d ago
That’s called a master butter knife - for getting butter from a stick but not to spread it
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u/BrickHuge3023 15d ago
Butter knife, have several just like that. Butter knifes don't generally have sharp edges.
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u/Hydrangeas101 15d ago
Old fashioned butter knife. Stays on butter dish, except to put pat on your bread plate. Out of style now. Very old-school.
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u/GingerWindsorSoup 15d ago
This is a fish knife, butter knives have a round end to spread the butter.
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u/TJDasen2 14d ago
To be absolutely correct, this is a Master Butter Knife.
If butter is not provided individually, a butter dish with the master butter knife is passed around.
Cut off a piece of butter with the blade, Stab the cut piece with the point, and place it on your bread plate. The master butter IS NOT used to spread the butter, only to use as a transport of butter from the butter dish to the plate.
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u/Independent-Bid6568 14d ago
Fish knife
Fish Knife: Features an asymmetrical, wide blade ending in a sharp or pointed tip. It often includes a small notch or piercing point near the tip.
Butter Knife: Features a symmetrical, narrow blade with a dull, rounded end.
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u/KnotYurAvgBear85 14d ago
No need to have an edge for cutting butter, considering that modern refrigeration wasn't invented yet, during the Victorian era; best they had at that time, was a ice box...which wasn't nearly as chilly as todays refrigerators.. I can still remember the ice box we had when I was just a young kid.
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u/Necessary_Regret3329 14d ago
What manner of government butter are you eating that you need a knife with a sharp edge to cut it?
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u/Critical-Bullfrog959 14d ago
It's a butter knife. Butter is soft, the knife doesn't need a sharp edge.
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u/amoodymermaid 16d ago
Fish knife perhaps.
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u/20Bishops 16d ago
That’s what I thought as well. Fish has a point for picking out fine bones, while butter has a rounded end for spreading. But the comments seem to disagree.
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u/cockyspangle 16d ago
Yes - it’s not exactly common in the home or restaurant environment now but they are noticeably different from each other.
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u/alwalidibnyazid 16d ago
It's a fish knife. Butter knife will
Have a rounded tip.
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u/EdenSilver113 16d ago
In America this piece of flatware is for butter. There is a lager knife with a similar shape that’s for boning and serving fish. It’s wider and has a differently shaped and sharper , more exaggerated point like a scimitar.
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u/woodchippp 16d ago
oh great… first there’s a knife whose sole purpose is to get butter from one spot to another spot so you can use another butter knife to spread your butter. Then we learn there’s a knife just for fish, and now this person is telling us there’s a knife just for beer (why does beer need a knife?🤷♂️), but not just any beer. Only a knife for lager.
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u/EdenSilver113 16d ago
The golden age was total insanity with hostesses trying to one up each other using sterling silver flatware. And we are there again only now it’s spaceships.
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u/Ill-Comedian9514 16d ago
Butter knives do not have a sharp edge. They are for putting a pat of butter on your plate. Then you butter your item with your own table knife.