Vintage 19th Century Hilger & Sons Spring Divider Compass

Description

Vintage Hilger & Sons spring dividers approximately 3.5" in length (depending on how you measure). Excellent condition with no rust or corrosion. These date to the mid to late 19th century.
Hilger has a interesting background. They were an importer, not a manufacturer, and these dividers are likely German made.
Hilger & Sons was an importer of cutlery and hardware in NYC, founded 1848. Eventually -- probably in the 1890s -- it merged with Wiebusch, to become Wiebusch & Hilger, one of the top 19th and early 20th century US importers of German, Bohemian, and English cutlery (there were dozens of wholesale importers, most located in the cutlery district of lower Manhattan, on or near Duane Street; other top firms included H. Boker & Co., Adolph Kastor & Bros, and Alfred Field & Co). After the 1891 US tariff increases, many of these importers acquired or built US knife factories of their own. Wiebusch & Hilger owned Challenge;.... Boker owned Valley Forge, which became Boker USA