Antique English Victorian Rushbrooke Smithfield Butchers Fat Paddle BREAD Board RARE! UNUSED!

$159.99

Brand Unknown

Here is an unusually hard to find butchers fat paddle.  The fat paddle serves as both a meat tenderizer for large cuts or can be used to cut small bread or serve cheeses upon.   I have had one in my collection for a while (shown in photos 2, 3, 4) and have, until now, only come across one other one which sold at a London auction house for 185GBP (about $230 US dollars).  The paddles (the one here for sale, the one shown in my collection and the one at the London auction house) all were made by G. Rushbrooke Smithfield.  G Rushbrooke Smithfield (Ltd) was an outfitter to butchers, butcher shops and grocers from the late 19th and into the early 20th century.  If you follow my blog you may remember that I posted about some of the dairy slabs I have, CHEESE, PURE BUTTER, FROMAGE.  These ironstone slabs were all made by the same company which supplied most of England with everything from butcher blocks  to aprons and in between for the commercial butcher, cheese or dairy shop owner.  All sorts of displays and tools were produced by Rushbrooke.  

This fat paddle looks like new.  I wonder if it either was ever used or if someone may have taken the original hardware and had a new fat paddle made but never used it?  I bought it at an auction and no other history is known except that the hardware is definitely old and matches the hardware on my fat paddle.  The handled end has a metal knob with a hole in it that would have had a string or metal loop through it so that it could be hung up when the paddle when not in use.  The opposite end has the original metal plate (black with gold outline and lettering) which reads as follows:

G. RUSHBROOKE (SMITHFIELD) LTD. Butchers' Engineers & Complete Outfitters  67/77 Charterhouse Street, LONDON. E.C.1 & At Birmingham, Liverpool, Sheffield, Belfast

Measures: 15 5/8" x 4 3/4" x 1 7/8" thick (it's heavy)

Condition: The board itself appears like new and not to have been used.  The metal plate at the end shows some slight scratches, nothing significant.

Such a rare, hard to find and wonderful piece this is!