Fish-form (Pike / Щука) nesting cutlery set (fork and knife)

Object/Artifact

-

Archive of Cuban Socialism

Name/Title

Fish-form (Pike / "Щука") nesting cutlery set (fork and knife)

Entry/Object ID

2025.5.8

Description

A two-piece travel/picnic eating set styled as a single fish (a pike). Each utensil has a blue molded-plastic handle modeled in the round as one half of the fish, with incised scales, gill, eye, and fins; the head half terminates in a three-tine stainless-steel fork and the tail half in a stainless-steel knife blade. The handles slot/nest together so that, joined, they form one continuous fish. A clear plastic sleeve holds the joined set. The handles carry the embossed inscriptions: “Г. Киев” (City of Kyiv) and “З•Д• Сокол”, the Sokol state factory, followed by the article code “АРТ• 860•Ч”. The knife blade itself is also marked Киев.

Use

Belonged to the Pantoja Amengual household.

Collection

Jorge Pantoja Amengual collection

Acquisition

Accession

2025.5

Source or Donor

Jorge Pantoja Amengual

Made/Created

Manufacturer

Sokol state factory

Place

City

Kyiv

State/Province

Ukraine

Country

U.S.S.R.

Region

Eastern Europe

Continent

Europe

Notes

Date: No explicit date is marked. The Russian-language Soviet-style marks (Cyrillic "Киев," abbreviations "З.Д.," "АРТ.") indicate Soviet-era (pre-1991) manufacture; such USSR consumer goods reached Cuba in volume through COMECON trade, especially in the 1970s–1980s. Manufacture within 1959–1990 is well-supported and most plausibly falls in the 1970s–1980s, though no exact year appears on the object.

Parts

fork, knife, nylon

Materials

Material

Plastic, Metal

Material Notes

Materials: Blue molded plastic (handles); stainless steel (fork and knife); clear plastic film (sleeve). Technique: Injection-molded plastic handles with molded fish detailing and embossed factory marks; stamped/formed stainless-steel utensils set into the handles; heat-sealed clear plastic sleeve.

Condition

Overall Condition

Good

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Jorge Pantoja Amengual

Notes

Owner

Related Places

Place

City

Kyiv

State/Province

Ukraine

Country

U.S.S.R.

Region

Eastern Europe

Continent

Europe

Notes

Production

Place

City

Havana

Country

Cuba

Region

Caribbean, Central America

Notes

Purchase

Research Notes

Notes

The object is a known Soviet collectible: a fish-shaped tourist/fisherman's fork-and-knife set from the "Sokol" factory in Kyiv. In Russian/Ukrainian collector and resale listings it's overwhelmingly catalogued under the popular name "Щука" (Shchuka — Pike), described as a tourist fork-and-knife set for fishermen, made of stainless steel with a plastic handle.

Notes

These were camping cutlery. The fish form is a practical solution as much as a decorative one: when closed, the blade folds into the body of the fish, safely sheathed for transport. Soviet outdoor culture generated its own material world of functional objects, and this set belongs to that tradition, produced in Kyiv for hikers, campers, and pioneer trips across the USSR.

Notes

Two designs: the line reportedly came in two fish species — a pike and a sturgeon (осётр / esturión). The species-to-article-code mapping is unverified; this example is АРТ. 860.Ч, while a related Kyiv "Sokol" fisherman's set is recorded under article 225-У.

Created By

María A. Cabrera Arús

Create Date

May 18, 2026

Updated By

María A. Cabrera Arús

Update Date

June 18, 2026