Scissors, 5.25"

Scissors can be defined as hand implements that use two blades for cutting. The cutting action is created by the shearing motion of the two blades moving against each other, such that the cut moves horizontally while the fingers and thumb of the hand move vertically.

The earliest cutting tools which can be loosely described as scissors were made in Egypt in around 1500 BCE.  These were made of a single piece of bronze metal formed into a U shape;  the ends of the U were sharpened into blades and the curve acted as a spring so that the blades moved apart on release after each cut. 

In about 100 AD the Romans improved the design so the blades overlapped, but the pattern followed the basic Egyptian design and thus resembled the shears used by sheep-shearers and gardeners. 

The invention of modern scissors, using a central pivot to join the two blades, each of which therefore forms a lever, appears to have been made at some time before the 6th century. They were described by Isidore of Seville as 'tools used by barbers'. 

By 1000 to 1300, scissor-makers were held in high esteem, with craft guilds being formed. The development of other trades and crafts, such as those of tailoring and calligraphy, led to greater demand for high-quality scissors that would produce clean cuts of cloth and paper.

A pair of scissors form part of the salvage taken from the ‘The Glass Wreck’, a Byzantine merchant vessel which sunk at Serçe Limani, a natural harbor on the Turkish coast directly north of Rhodes.  The shipwreck has been closely dated to the period 1021-1025. Scissors of a similar design and period are part of the Wüsten Schloß collection at the Landesmuseum in Dresden. 

Scissors dating to the medieval period are a fairly common archaeological find, and can be found in the collection of museums such as the Museum of London, the British Museum, the Sweden’s Historiska Museet (Uppland/Vastmanland) .

Our scissors are patterned after historical examples, and individually hand forged. They are sturdy and well made, and will serve in a sewing basket or utility chest. 

Blackened mild steel. Approx 5.25”

Due to the hand crafted nature of this item dimensions and shape will vary slightly from piece to piece.