Description

In the era of the quill and, later, the  fountain pen, erorrs were erased by scraping off the dry ink. The instuments used for this purpose were called “rubbers”. They often appear on Ebay and other platforms described as bloodletting knives. This is an unsual example in that it has a finial in the form of a skull. One side of the blade is stamped “Landers. Frary & Clark”, a firm located in New Britain, Connecticut. The excerpt from the Wiki page below indicates that the firm expanded into cutlery in 1862. 

From Wiki:

In 1842, New Britain politician and businessman George M. Landers entered into a partnership with Josiah Dewey called Dewey and Landers.^[1][2] The partnership manufactured metal products such as furniture casters, window springs, coat and hat hooks, and other small hardware items, typically made out of brass.^[1][2] Following a change of partnership in either 1852 or 1853, Levi O. Smith joined the firm, and the business was reorganized as a stock company called Landers and Smith Manufacturing.^[1][2] In 1862, Landers and Smith purchased of Meriden-based business Frary & Carey, resulting in James D. Frary joining the firm, Levi O. Smith retiring, and Landers and Smith reorganizing as Landers, Frary & Clark.^[1][2] The firm expanded into cutlery manufacturing in 1866, when the firm inaugurated its Aetna Works manufacturing facility.^[1][2] The Aetna Works burnt down in a fire in 1874, but was rebuilt as a larger, more modern plant following the fire.^[2]