Four Ivory Vaccinating Knives

Description:

Four Ivory Vaccinating Knives, early 19th century, a pocket smallpox vaccinator with two sets of folding inoculating needles of three blades each; a two-blade vaccinator with carved cross-hatched casing; a small vaccinator with three folding blades; and a large vaccinator with 3-inch lg. blade, smallest lg. 2, largest lg. 7 in. extended.

Note: Although the practice of inoculation had been known in China and India since before 200BC, the concept only gained ascendance in the West 1796, when English physician Edward Jenner successfully prevented a young boy from contracting smallpox by scratching him with a lancet that had been exposed to a woman with cowpox. The ivory blades were known to preserve the cowpox vaccine until it was administered.
Estimate $300-400

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