Thread: Eschers, that are brown

What does the label on the right say, Sham, made in France? It's funny there is no branding on these labels, especially on the green label, I would think it's has some sort of logo on there. What is in the circle logo type patterns on the green label?

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I thought it might have been Jimmy Carter but then I remembered he didn't get along too well with ducks.

Wasnt that a rabbit or are we talking about 2 separate incidents?

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Wasnt that a rabbit or are we talking about 2 separate incidents?

LOL you're right, it was a rabbit, I must be getting oldtimer's disease.

I see that it's not how well a stone sharpens, but if it's a "special stone" only for "Good razors".

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck?
I assume some president said this.

I'd say that doesn't work here.

"Looks like a W&B, shaves like a W&B" - but it could be any Sheffield razor. Same idea, right? If you ground the stamp off any Sheffiield razor, you'd prolly not be able to tell what brand it is.

i think it says F.C AND B.C.
WILL check tomorrow exact name. got to do some digging.

Originally Posted by Disburden

What does the label on the right say, Sham, made in France? It's funny there is no branding on these labels, especially on the green label, I would think it's has some sort of logo on there. What is in the circle logo type patterns on the green label?

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck?
I assume some president said this.

I prefer it to walk and quack like 2 ducks.

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

i think it says F.C AND B.C.
WILL check tomorrow exact name. got to do some digging.

We need another brand of stone to worship, Sham, find the official name! lol

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

Jimmy, out of curiosity, do they have labeled brown Eschers, or Thuringian type hones that are brown that they call Eschers? I remember you'd posted about those guys before.

Now that I look at that price sheet, I don't see "Escher" on it. Is there 100% certainty that is for Eschers?

I have never seen vintage price lists, advertisements, hone textbooks or anything like that, mention the name Escher. It's always "German water stones," or similar.

I have formed a very strong impression that the cult of the Escher brand is a very very recent phenomenon. As in, last 5-10 years. Frankly, I think it has to do with ebay more than anything.

The many vintage german water stones — i.e. "Thuringians" — I've owned and used, whether Escher, some other brand, or unlabeled generic, are all of equivalent consistency and quality. Of course there's variation stone to stone but the Escher brand ones do not stand out.

I do not think the "Wade & Butcher" analogy works because the W&B label means it was manufactured by that company, whereas these are all rocks that came out of the same hole in the ground and got different labels stuck on them. A better analogy in my view is the different brand names you sometimes see on vintage coticules when they're labeled. We don't assign any particular cutting properties or quality to these brands in the case of coticules. I think we should move along to thinking the same way about vintage Thuringians.

The new "thuringians," of course, are a different story.

I've only owned a few vintage Thuringans and they were good hones. I've owned 7 or 8 labeled Eschers and all were better but one. At least better IMO. Subjective to say the least. I cannot argue that literature of the time referred to "German water hones" but certain hones, IMO, have a reputation that precedes SRP and the internet. The Swaty, for example, was favored by barbers I knew in North Jersey, back in the '80s, over other barber hones. Same with dubl ducks and not without reason. They delivered the goods. I think the Eschers fall into the same category of a proven item that gained a reputation through word of mouth before keyboards. YMMV. Here is a 1926 barber manual excerpt, note the drawing of the "German Water Hone depicts one with a back label very like an Escher ;