I know sans England means pre 1890, but what if it doesn't even say Sheffield?

I've got two of these old 6/8 English razors now without any origin stamp at all, a "Joseph Elliot's Best Silver Steel" and an "Underwood Bradford" (Both lovely razors, of course) What is the significance of the lack of a city stamp?

You do know that Bradford is also a city in England about 40 miles from Sheffield, right? As for the Elliot being without the 'Sheffield' stamp, I have no idea. Maybe they simply forgot or deemed it unnecessary.

The stamp is a guide, not a definite, ie: it is a just another clue to be used with all the other clues to tell when the razor was made..

The stamps were often there before 1890 used as bragging rights :)


Also remember that the stamps only "Had" to be there for razors that were made for export..



You are looking at a complete stamp BTW a Sheffield stamp could simply mean the razor was made of Sheffield steel it needs to have Sheffield England to be of any help at all and again it is just a guide..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

The stamp is a guide, not a definite, ie: it is a just another clue to be used with all the other clues to tell when the razor was made..

The stamps were often there before 1890 used as bragging rights :)


Also remember that the stamps only "Had" to be there for razors that were made for export..



You are looking at a complete stamp BTW a Sheffield stamp could simply mean the razor was made of Sheffield steel it needs to have Sheffield England to be of any help at all and again it is just a guide..

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Glen's on the money here.

Sheffield wasn't a hugely common part of the stamp before 1840, and I don't think it was ever universally used.

For Joseph Elliot in particular, if you want to get an idea of the age, you can't go by the stamps alone. They made a huge variety of blades with a huge variety of shapes over a very long period of time. With some of Elliot's razors, you can only ever get a broad range of production.

As for the Underwood, Pithor is right that Underwood is the name and Bradford is the location. That's almost certainly Bradford, Connecticut. T. Underwood & Co. were a bar steel and tool maker in the American north east. It looks like the razors they sold were probably contracted, since I found one that has Taylor's 'Eye Witness' stamp on the pile side.

Interesting. Wasn't sure if the locality name was required.