Context (Related Documents)
'9' in pencil marked on the back of the object's mount.
Event Date
Author: Lucie Carreau

Description (Inscription)
Incised inscriptions: '888'; 'NOT THE GIFT BUT THE GIVER'; '1601'; 'M. G.'.
Event Date
Author: Esther Laver

Context (Display)
Hand-written label adhered to front of display board reads: 'Knife handle inscribed: NOT THE GIF BUT THE GIVER 1601 * M*G*. Freeman Coll.'
Hand-written label adhered to back of display board reads: 'Knife-handle (bone) inscribed: 888 | NOT THE | GIFT BUT THE | GIVER | 1601 | *M*G*| Freeman'.
Event Date
Author: Lucie Carreau

Context (Display)
Object previously mounted on patterned paper-wrapped display board, mounted with metal pins. This form of mounting possibly indicates the item was put on display following the First World War, when the museum moved to its current site on Downing Street.
Event Date
Author: Zahni Blumenthal

Context (Related Documents)
See 'Report on Collections Research and Cataloguing Project on Post Medieval 'To Be Disposed Of' Material' by David Kay in the archive (Doc.474) for background information.
Event Date 2019
Author: Esther Laver

Description (Physical description)
Knife handle of bone, hollow and fragmentary. Carved inscription reads: 'Not the gift but the giver. 1601'. Carved initials 'M. G'.
Event Date 14/7/2022
Author: Lucie Carreau

Description (Physical description)
Hollow bone knife handle. The handle is roughly octagonal. The butt is open, with a square cross-section; the blade end is fragmentary, and there are cracks all over. Decorated with incised dots and inscription readings: 'NOT THE GIF BUT THE GIVER 1601 * M*G*'
Event Date 7/11/2023
Author: Esther Laver