Tag: device

A Letter Opener, Letter Knife or a Paper Knife was a fairly common device found on almost every office table during the 1940s. It used to be a straightforward blunt blade of metal to cut-open sealed and gummed envelopes. I found this one among a punching machine, a pin cushion, a stapler, a bloating roller pad, a few glass paperweights, a pen holder and various other table items in my dad’s office after he died. This was really fancy for those times. The obverse and the inverse sides of the promotional paper knife, was probably used as a give-away for cycle buyers by Perryson Cycle & Parts company in India. It is pretty much ‘usable’ even today though the mermaid-like fluke (the tail) of the knife is missing, possibly broken, in ‘handling’. With her high cheekbones and curls, this shapely-Greek-goddess-like-sensation must have been a handful for both the secretary and the boss. I don’t think these guys were missing anything in those days. “Dad, this is going to the museum of memories.”