Thread: Wm Howcroft and Sons

I concede you win

Originally Posted by Tarkus

I concede you win

Yeah! Besides. Anyone else feel the Earth tremble as old Hawcroft spins in his grave? I think I do!


Oh! Love your new title! How do I get that?

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Yeah! Besides. Anyone else feel the Earth tremble as old Hawcroft spins in his grave? I think I do!

Wouldn't have it any other way.

Originally Posted by Tarkus

Wouldn't have it any other way.

But, of course!

Back to Bill's question. What could it have been made to hold? Mustache wax is good. Some sort of pomade?
Neil would not know. He does not go in for that sort of thing!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

But, of course!

Back to Bill's question. What could it have been made to hold? Mustache wax is good. Some sort of pomade?
Neil would not know. He does not go in for that sort of thing!

Dont know what it was used for originally, but i figured out what you can use it for.

Sadly, I think he has done it. It coulda been a winner. A real contender!........ he killed it!

Thank you thank you very much

I know when I'm not wanted Of course it takes me 10 posts to know it

So we have (effectively?) ruled out anything Neil knows of, lemonheads, their friends, pills? A small amount of BS would fit!
Some ideas? I think it has to be something which came with a set. Perhaps it was up to the customer as how to use it?
Men were pretty smart back then, I think! It may have been used as a fashionable accessory or never been used for anything at all! History!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Thank You, Neil. The pressings are not filled, obviously silver-soldered on the wedge end. The top has a thicker silver 'bridge' soldered across the hollows at the tang. Many I have seen have this feature and (as in this one!) as someone attempts to peen tighter, the outer silver bends inward. Quite a chore to get in there and bend back out and an even bigger chore to get some tiny stainless washers in there for support!
On the ivory 'pot'. You feel it may be from this William's Grandfather's time? That would certainly make it quite old!
Is there a tale of the Hawcroft razor-making lineage?
As to it's use, a general container? I thought a snuff-box. It is quite small, 38mm inside diameter. If a piece of advertising, quite lavish, I would think. Perhaps it was an item included in a set of razors or a gentleman's grooming set?
Tom

The Hawcroft lineage is even more confusing than I found it to be all that time ago when I first looked into it - so much so that it deserves a mini-update.

William Hawcroft (senior) born ca1801 and living in Fitzwilliam Street at the time of the 1851 census had a rather large family - most of whom were razor makers, including himself. His son Isaac - aged 27 in 1851, also had two brothers - George age 16 and yet another William, age 20.

Isaac's brother William may have been his original partner.

Anyway, back to the ivory pot.

The existence of the pot lends a little credence to the idea that William Hawcroft may have had a barber shop or supplied barbershops. What sort of things would one be likely to find in a barbershop or hairdressers of this period? Hair was powdered and pomaded, so these could be found. Obviously you'd expect a large pot for powder and a smaller one for a greasy pomade which goes a long way.

Articles for mens toiletry needs, like tooth powder. Snuff. Barbers were once barber-surgeons and although they could perform minor (relatively speaking) surgery, tooth pulling and blood letting I don't know if they could prescribe drugs, However, they may have added their names to thirs-party suppliers, so lets add pills to the list.

Men were not adverse to the odd beauty patch (a small black patch that was applied over a lesion or a spot to make it look like a mole or something similar) right through the Regency Era, and these often came in small boxes.

I guess there were many other things, and some we can rule out due to the nature of the box. It is not big enough for powder - a lot was used. If something greasy went in it, the ivory would be discoloured - this does not look to be the case. If something coloured and wet was put in it it would discolour and most likely crack. Although 'tooth powder' seems innocuous at first, a wet brush was dipped in it, so the box may have got wet. It was also made chiefly form gypsum (ugh!) and dye, so the box could have got stained. On the whole, tooth powder pots and pomade pots tended to be made of ceramics.

That leaves us with a couple of likely uses - a pill box which Bill has already suggested, and a snuff box, which Tom has already suggested. Obviously it is of a personal size rather than a pass-round-the-table size, so I think Tom may have it.

Darl - if I had won, I would have bequeathed all my lemon bonbons to you!

Regards,
Neil

Sadly, I cannot take credit for the pill box., but here is a twisted knot on a tree.