A knife with a single edged steel blade, the handle is brass inlaid with tortoiseshell. A type of item made in Britain for trade and exchange in North America. It fits a locally made sheath AAA2632. European knives and metal blades were valuable trade goods, exchanged with Native Americans engaged in the fur-trade for beaver pelts.

This knife forms part of a collection of ethnographic material made by Admiral Sir George Back (1796-1878). Back took part in three overland journeys to explore the north coast of America in 1819-22, 1825-27 and 1833-35. He travelled north via the network of rivers and lakes on the Canadian Shield stopping at Hudson Bay Company trading posts where he had the opportunity to acquire this type of material.