Thread: Seldom seen Mottram & Sons

I only found one reference to this maker in the archives. Thomas Mottram (c. 1772 - 1846) This firm was merchant and manufacturers of cutlery, edged tools and steel. It was listed in Eyre Lane between 1839 and 1849. The originator of the business was Thomas Mottram who apparently operated from Eyre Lane in the 1820's. The 1822 directory listed Mottram & Greaves, merchants, Eyre Lane. Thomas had two sons, Matthew and Henry. Thomas Mottram died 5 Oct. 1846 at the age of 74. By 1846 other partners had joined Matthew and Henry. They included George Smith Jr., Henry Simpson, and William Taylor. Smith withdrew in 1847. By 1852 the firm had been renamed Mottram, Taylor & Co. The company existed in various forms until it went bankrupt in 1868 and appears to have ceased trading in 1871. The corporate mark was 'MOTTRAM 1841'.

This 13/16 near wedge blade with a crocus type finish seems to have the characteristics of an 1840's razor including heavy top and bottom tang jimps. Pitting, although not apparent in the before pictures, was quite deep. The scales are honey horn with brass pins and collars. A handsome resurrection that shaves wonderfully. Sorry for the poor natural light pictures I was loosing daylight and it's snowing today.

Are those the same scales?

Poslano z mojega SM-G870F z uporabo Tapatalk

Originally Posted by caus24

Are those the same scales?

Poslano z mojega SM-G870F z uporabo Tapatalk

The original honey horn scales were broken and delaminated so I replaced them.

A beauty for sure. Great job on the restore. I hope to have the tools and ability to do such a fine job some day.

That's a rare find indeed. Of all the razor hunting that I have done over the years I can honestly say that I've never seen a razor by that maker.
As usual, a beautiful restoration too!

Pete <:-}

Nice work. That front scale has some deep streaking in it. I bet it is a real looker in hand. Some day...

Originally Posted by RezDog

Nice work. That front scale has some deep streaking in it. I bet it is a real looker in hand. Some day...

There is some brown color in the back scale too but not as much. They are from the same blank. The scales look much better in hand than in the pictures.

I have a hard time getting the beauty of horn to show up in my pictures. Perhaps if they were lit from underneath, on some fancy LED light box. I have more important restoration skills to work out before I concern myself too much with developing my photography.

Originally Posted by RezDog

I have a hard time getting the beauty of horn to show up in my pictures. Perhaps if they were lit from underneath, on some fancy LED light box. I have more important restoration skills to work out before I concern myself too much with developing my photography.

Keep going with your carving and no one will notice your photography!

Very nice restoration, scales looks great, that said the blade is way to shiny for my taste and a lot of the original blade definition is gone, certainly not the way it looked coming out of the factory. JMHO.