Many of us have a prized Escher hone which we use to polish the edges of our beautiful razors. I have had the fortune of owning several of these. Recently I purchased one which is very different from the others. It is a large stone that has a label that says only E. & Co. and doesn't mention the word Escher. The label is blue in color which again is different from other Eschers and it has a trophy cup on it. The stone also has a small label on one of the ends which says Dark Blue with E. & Co. written under it. I have a small E. & Co. stone that I bought from the forestry professor that has a similar label, also blue in color and with a trophy cup on it. I have another stone which says Escher & Co. on the main label and has a barbershop scene on it. It also has a small label on one of the ends which says Blue Green and has E. & Co. written under it. Kees has an Escher & Co. stone with a barbershop scene on the main label that has a small label on one of the ends that says Yellow Green and has E. & Co. written under it.
I also have a hone with the J. G. Escher & Sohn label on it and no label on either end. I have seen and owned several hones like this one and have never seen a label on one of the ends. I am interested in the history of these stones because I collect them. So here is the question, are these two different companies, did one evolve into the other as Kees has suggested to me or what do you think or know? My Dark Blue stone appears to be soft like a Fox & Co. Yellow Green stone that I own but I'm not sure how it compares to the Blue Green stone. I have been told by a German collector that I have dealt with that the J. G. Escher & Sohn stones come in four grades. I believe that these end labels on the Escher & Co. stones are intended to communicate grades for these stones. I know that the Blue Green grade is a bit lower than the Yellow Green grade, but where does the Dark Blue grade fit? Is it the lowest or the highest grade? I suspect that it is the lowest of the three grades mentioned but I really don't know. Maybe instead of grades the labels are intended to communicate special purposes. I would appreciate hearing from the group on this one. Maybe if we pool our collective knowledge we will all learn something!
