A pair of unsigned unfinished folding Hamon’s “Retroceps” in steel, wood and brass.

Similar examples are documented in Kedanarth Das’ “Obstetric Forceps” but these are bespoke, having lockable folding blades. Hamon’s forceps are in themselves rare, but I have never seen or heard of a similar example to these, which are one of a kind in factory unfinished form.

• From the Phisick collection