Thread: Has anyone ever heard of a "Climax" barber hone?

I tried to do a search on the name, and all I could come up with was a town in Kansas.

I had made a little visit to an antique shop the other day and came across a barber's hone with that name on the end of the hone. It didn't come with it's original box, so I couldn't glean anymore info than that. One side was a dark slate colour, the other a dark red/brown hue.

I didn't buy it, because I didn't have the cash, and he wanted 100 dollars for it, so even if I did, I wouldn't have bought the hone. But he was also asking ridiculous prices for his straight razors. I can't and won't buy that hone, just like I could never afford his straights. Seriously, the way he was storing those SRs was horrendous, like a bunch of pens thrown in a box. And most weren't in their coffin boxes. And the ones in coffins were even priced higher. They were all chipped (the blades and scales) and/or had a lot of rust on them, and not one of the them was selling for under 50 bucks. Some were close to 100, and they were ALL in horrendous shape. He must have had about 40 SRs in that box, and is it any wonder he had so many left? I mean, most shops in this area, can't keep one SR in stock for more than a week.

This man also had old strops, that were in horrible shape and in my limited newbie opinion, way way over priced. One strop was an old chewed up Illinois. I couldn't make out the number on the handle, but it was quite thin and short and he wanted 85 dollars for it! I couldn't believe my eyes.

I'm willing to bet, the next time I visit his shop (if I ever visit again) that he will have all the same blades and strops in stock.

Anyway, anything anyone can tell me about the barber hone, and why it would be so highly priced would be great. I had never seen a barber hone, up close and personal until the other day. Is this guy on crack? Or is there some kind of "gold" in dat dere store?

btw, 1 Canadian dollar is about 90 cents US

thanks,
JD

BROCH & THIEBES CUTLERY CO.
St. Louis
Importers of razors. Used "CLIMAX" trademark.
ca. 1882-1892

Probably a hone made/imported/sold by this company.

ad for a climax stropper:

http://books.google.com/books?id=NIjNAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PT116&lpg=RA1-PT116&dq=climax+razor+hone&source=bl&ots=hqSMEVzCq 7&sig=E0glKQeR9XAw6iGXXWqhudKEI2Q&hl=en&ei=yVO3SozjF 9-BtgfKg7ywDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4 #v=onepage&q=&f=false

Hmm, so the hone really would be an antique at over 100 years old!

Still, 100 bucks is a lot for a little piece of sharpening stone, especially when I want a hone to use, not to display.

Thanks for the info pyment.