Thread: "Dip-at-toe" stubtails 18th century

Originally Posted by Hillbillystixnstraights

So how do I PM people on here��

one way is to click on their name next to there avitar and a menu will pop up. click on "send private message"

Thank You tintin, for some reason I'm not showing that option🙁

Originally Posted by Hillbillystixnstraights

Thank You tintin, for some reason I'm not showing that option��

Hmmm, that's strange (actually it just says private message) hopefully someone with more knowledge can help.

Probably because I use my phone. It might not support it. Its not there though.
Thank You for your help 👍

Originally Posted by Hillbillystixnstraights

Please forgive the thread breaking�� has anyone heard of "Holbem&Co" waranted? I can't find anything... 2 pictures, that's it��. Any ideas?

I've seen maybe one or two with that stamp in my time.

Digging around in records, I can find much, but I can identify the Holbem of Holbem & Co.

It was Thomas Holbem. He's mentioned exactly once in the apprentice registries as a razor maker apprenticing John Bartlem in 1803 for the standard period of 7 years.

HOWEVER, the optical character recognition for Google Books' copy of Volume II of Leader's History didn't pick up his listing as an apprentice because the print is small and Holbem was being read as Holbern, because he's listed there as Thomas Holbem, son of John (grocer), apprenticed to William Wright, cutler (another seldom-seen name!) in 1780 and freed 1802, just in time to take John Bartlem as an apprentice.

John seems to have never finished his apprenticeship though, so it's entirely possible that Thomas Holbem fell out of the trade, since he doesn't show up as a cutler of any stripe in any of the usual directories.

A dig through Ancestry doesn't turn up much, but I strongly suspect this is the fellow:



(that is from the monthly meeting of the Balby, Quakers of Sheffield, Doncaster, etc, and is their burial records)

Twenty Sixth Day of the Third Month of 1832 (when died) -- Thomas Holbem -- Abt. 66 (years old) -- Sheffield (residence) -- (blank description) -- Twenty Ninth Day of the Third Month of 1832 (when buried) -- Sheffield, not a member (where buried)

Most likely what we're looking at there is the burial record for someone who died very poor, as many cutlers did.

Unfortunately, that's all I can turn up.

Though I can add that the (name) & Co style mark was very common around that time period, with Wilton & Co, Styring & Co, and at least several others I can't quite sift out of the back of my head at the moment.

I thought i would add this little one to the thread.
No idea who the maker is . The tang stamp reads quite strange Rodxin.R ...Unless my eyes deceive me.
The scales are extremely nice..

Originally Posted by JOB15

I thought i would add this little one to the thread.
No idea who the maker is . The tang stamp reads quite strange Rodxin.R ...Unless my eyes deceive me.
The scales are extremely nice..

wow the work on those scales. Always amazes me that:

1. Given the age, it was prbly done by hand right? just think about that, no modern machinery...
2. that it survived this long without being broken, rubbed off etc...you can still see the details.

Kinda like visiting those old temples or archeological sites where you see intricate stone work...

That is not a "Dip-at-toe" I'm afraid, sorry!

Originally Posted by Tjh

wow the work on those scales. Always amazes me that:

1. Given the age, it was prbly done by hand right? just think about that, no modern machinery...
2. that it survived this long without being broken, rubbed off etc...you can still see the details.

Kinda like visiting those old temples or archeological sites where you see intricate stone work...

The scales were made by pressing slabs of horn in an iron mold. So not exaaaactly handmade, but not machine made either!

Horn is astoundingly durable as long as dermestid beetles don’t find it.

Originally Posted by JOB15

I thought i would add this little one to the thread.
No idea who the maker is . The tang stamp reads quite strange Rodxin.R ...Unless my eyes deceive me.
The scales are extremely nice..

It was made by Ignaz Rösler in Nixdorf, Bohemia, probably in the 1820’s. He was a leading light in cutlery production in the city.

What you’re seeing is an incomplete stamp of I. R. Frodoxin. Why he spelled Nixdorf backwards is it’s own whole topic of discussion, but his earlier razors did not do that.

And Fikira is correct, it’s not a dipped-toe Sheffield razor.

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

The scales were made by pressing slabs of horn in an iron mold. So not exaaaactly handmade, but not machine made either!

Horn is astoundingly durable as long as dermestid beetles don’t find it.



It was made by Ignaz Rösler in Nixdorf, Bohemia, probably in the 1820’s. He was a leading light in cutlery production in the city.

What you’re seeing is an incomplete stamp of I. R. Frodoxin. Why he spelled Nixdorf backwards is it’s own whole topic of discussion, but his earlier razors did not do that.

And Fikira is correct, it’s not a dipped-toe Sheffield razor.

Excellent news. Thank you.. I thought at first it was not a dip at toe but more recently convinced myself that it was
I will look into this maker now and restore it for prosperity.
Thanks again
Joseph