Thread: Dating milestones?

No, I don't mean the first time you made it to second base I am putting together a little something for the SRP community (and myself) and am looking for some information (and references if possible):

Looking for date ranges for the following markings:

CAST STEEL
WARRANTED
Made In (think 1881?)

The sheffield tradition of the crown and monarch initials

Any other distinctive markings from specific time periods.


I know this has been posted before, but my eyes are literally starting to glaze over. Hoping to have a fairly comprehensive write up soon.

Thanks again

CAST STEEL

Cast steel marking - till about 1840s.

WARRANTED

Warranted mark - till about 1830s.

Made In (think 1881?)

Made In ... - after 1921.
"...in 1914 the words "made in" were required as well and in 1921 it was required that items be labeled with the country of origin in English".

Use Search on the forum and you'll find a lot of information about any marks and stamps.

Thanks Manah, I was hoping you might chime in. Hoping to have a finished product sometime this weekend.

"CAST STEEL", as Manah says, was mostly out by 1840, but some firms continued using it for a very long time (Cadman, on their BENGALL razors). Others may have as well. It probably came into use around 1810, but might've been earlier.

Another mark that's sometimes used to for dating is "ACIER FONDU", which English cutlers borrowed from the French. 1760's-1800ish, probably with some holdouts for a decade or two.

Warranted is pre-1800 and was used in various forms for a very long time, but all by itself 'WARRANTED' I haven't seen many examples of much beyond 1830.

Monarch initials, to the best of my knowledge, began with George IV. These were used outside of Sheffield, too. London cutlers DEFINITELY used it, and it's possible it was also used in Birmingham. The date ranges are:

GR (George IV)
1820-1830
WR (William IV)
1830-1837
VR (Victoria)
1837-1901
ER (Edward VII)
1901-1910
GR (George V)
1910-1936

There were a very few razors stamped with ER, and some J. Weiss razors (the ones marked 287 Oxford Street) with GR, that being George V.

Sheffield razors stamped 'Sheffield, England' probably all date to 1891 or later, to comply with the McKinley Tariff, but that only applied to goods made for export. The above-mentioned Weiss razors, made only to be sold in London, have no location but the address.

Silver Steel was first used in the early 1820's, specifically after the Stodart/Faraday paper on the alloy. It was used as a marketing term extensively for a couple of decades then fell out of use only to be picked up again later. It's still used on some German goods. The meaning is extraordinarily slippery. Assume it's marketing puff.

India Steel /Fine India Steel also got its start in the early 1820's and was used here and there forevermore.

NE PLUS ULTRA was another advertising term etched onto razors beginning in the early part of the 1800's (the first ad I found is from 1810). It seems to have been popular for 5-10 years, fallen out of use, and then was used very occasionally.

MAGNUM BONUM, ditto to NE PLUS ULTRA.

Some early Wade & Butcher razors were stamped 'Doubly Swaged' beginning around 1830 and not used much beyond that.

Joseph Rodgers stamped some razors in the early 1830's with the Sanksrit symbol for steel, which is translated as WOOTZ.

HOLLOW GROUND came into use as a marketing term on the blade around 1850.

DIAMOND EDGE began around 1840.

ADAMANTINE EDGE, similarly.

If you want to know about razors with pipe symbols on them, I recommend jumping off a bridge first, it will be less painful. The really short version is: pipe marks were used on razors. The longer version is: pipe marks were used on LOTS of razors by LOTS of different people until George Wostenholm was richer than any of the others and could sue them: IE around 1850.

OLD ENGLISH was mostly used by John Barber from 1822 to about 1835. Except for razors by Isaac Barber in the same time period. And also Thomas Scargill. After 1850 or so, everyone and their brother used it like crazy.

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And that's what I can come up with off the top of my head. There's a lot more out there, and I'm sure there's room for argument over what I've got here.

Some razor makers were only in business for a short time. John Barber was 1820 to 1834 from memory. Other makers changed their name over time like Jos Mappin then became Mappin Bros, then Mappin and Co and finally Mappin and Webb.

Thanks for the information everyone. I made a short write up concerning the basics of researching a razors history. This information really fleshed out the "how old is it" section. Thanks again and here is a link to the post.