Thread: 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..

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..

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.