Thread: Interesting old coticule find (lots o' pics)

Great find!
Have seen it, too, but as Oldengaerde said there was no way for us to get it.

Apart from the lacking backing, what's interesting too if it is as old as the inscription suggests - and the patina suggests indeed it is - is that this is a very early square coticule, without the usual tapering towards ends and bottom most of its comtemparies seem to have had.

Thanks guys. It's a shame this was open to CONUS only, I buy stuff from Europe all the time. In fact, most all of my shaving gear is European - soaps, brushes, most of my razors. I would be pretty disappointed if European sellers wouldn't ship to me.

Jimmy, thanks for the caution on the fragility. As soon as I had barely lapped the surface enough to recognize it was all solid coticule, I stopped for fear of breaking it. I would have cried out loud. Then I backed way off on any pressure, just letting the weight of the stone itself see how far it wanted to be lapped. Going any further than it is now would require some pressure and risk the inscription too, which I won't do.

It's actually quite usable on the current lapped surface as-is, that's all I wanted. And I'm considering mounting it to a wood block, maybe using rubber cement so I don't ruin the patina with permanent epoxy.

The patina on the rest of the stone is so stable that it aggressively beads water, like carnuba wax. It's like natural Japanese lacquer!