Penny knife
The penny knife goes all the way back to the 18th century and was a very simple utility knife, originally with a fixed blade. It got the name "penny knife" because of what it reportedly cost in England and America during the late 18th century: one penny. The famous "Fuller's Penny Knife" helped gain the reputation of Sheffield, England, cutlers in the pre-industrial era of the early 18th century. Description. The "penny knife" would later evolve into an extremely basic, mass-produced pocketknife with a folding blade, which pivoted freely in and out of the handle  without a backspring or other device to hold it in position (other than the frictional pressures of the knife handle). This type of inexpensive folding knife was quite popular with rural farmers in the United States, England, France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain for much of the 19th and part of the 20th century, and consequently is often called a "farmer knife", "sodbuster knife", or "peasant knife". Antique penny knives have increased significantly in value and can sell for as much as $500(US) or 410.35 euros. In modern production, the smallest models of the Opinel, an early 20th-century peasant 's knife, continue to use this basic design, consisting of a folding blade pivoting on an axle mounted through a steel-bolstered wooden handle.