Thread: 19th century Ebay razor? Please, help me identify this.

Originally Posted by superfly

I was about to make the same remark about cyrilic markings...

My read was, if the case is original to the instrument, they were made in Germany under contract to the Russian royals .....

European history is one of the things on my list to get around to, but weren't the pre-WW1 European royal families all somewhat related ..... like over-and-over-again

Never thought I'd ever use this stuff during history classes. lol

But ok.

As with all Royalties, yes, inbreds often. :-D

But if you look at history, 19th century, this either means early (which I doubt because of e.g. the full metal razor, metal was used for arms) and during the Napoleon era, making it very unlikely, or the latter half of that century.

If it were the latter part of the century and we were in the middle of The Prussian wars, ultimately causing WW1. Again quite unlikely.

Then the engraving, a crown and a snake.
A crown only would have been used for items used by the royalty. To the best of my knowledge those days were the last generation of Romanovs, and the "R" was used to symbolise this (probably in Cyrillic). Considering this, the snake is not logical either, as the Romanovs used a double-headed-eagle.

Let me ask a question as well.

How many full metal razors do you know from that time period, but than in the US? If any, wouldn't they have been decorated to emphasize it's value? Together with that, how much ore would be "wasted" (in the eyes of a ruler) if such a gigantic army would be issued full metal razors (even if just the officers)?

If it is from that time period, and from that area, your best chance would be in the "Austria-Hungary" corner (but again the doubts because of the razor being completely metal).

Just some thoughts.

Hoekie

That razor looks awesome, but yeah, despite my limited knowledge, it doesn't really appear as though it's from that era. I'm curious to know its real origins, though.

Thanks for the info so far.

As for the razor being stainless, in retrospect I believe I was incorrect. On the handle near the pivot pin, there's a speck of rust, as well as what appears to be a very inconspicuous yet noticeable-upon-close-inspection spot of "bubbling" on the inside of the scale that I've seen before on items that were plated, especially nickel plated.

I'm going to glean more info from the web, but there's not a whole lot to go on when all you've got is a symbol of a snake, scepter and crown. I might contact the seller out of curiousity and ask were they obtained their info. As for a shaver, it easily developed a keen edge after a few swipes on a paddle strop with .5 micron paste and gave a wonderful shave. I'm quite please with the razor, which cost me $30.

Thanks again for the help and any additional info anyone may be able to offer.

Whoever made it, thats a nice looking razor. I had an old French army straight that had a metal handle like that, but it is long gone so don't know if it had a symbol or not. Also isn't a snake on a pole sortof a universal medical symbol?
Anyway nice razor, let us know if you find anything else about it.
John P.

Yeah, either way, it's a nice looking razor.

If it turns out it was made by a Paki or something, just continue to tell people a made up story.

Maybe a Russian soldier was carrying it on his person in October of 1917, and because he had been up all night participating in a vodka drinking competition with his comrades, he was hung over and hardly saw the pitchfork coming.

I guess the idea for the compostion is not all that recent

I have doubts from what I've learned that it really is a razor from the days of the Czars, but I'm sure it's not a Pakistani either as it doesn't appear to be anything made in the past 20 years or so (plus, it shaves sweet).

It is a bit annoying I can't get an exact fix when and where this razor was made, but when all you know is there's a snake-coiled scepter below a crown on what appears to be a nickel-plated handle, I suppose I shouldn't expect a definitive answer unless I happen to stumble upon it.

Until then, I'll just use it for what it does best... I'll shave with it!