Thread: William Greaves and Sons Chinese Razor

Confucius say: Man who buy razor with foreign tongue on it that he can't read May just as well send it to JimmyHAD believing his story.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Confucius say: Man who buy razor with foreign tongue on it that he can't read May just as well send it to JimmyHAD believing his story.

Ahhhhhh Soooooooo...
Confucius also say 'Man who lose many razors with name on them goes unshaven'

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

I've got a G. Crookes

G. Crookes? Never seen one!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

G. Crookes? Never seen one!

Oh, you know.... That helps with figuring out the dates for these things!





I'm pretty sure that says "I was paid to make something that looks like Chinese, which I had described to me once by a chap over at Edward Allison's tavern, but he was pretty drunk and I think sometimes he was actually talking about his wife's bum leg."

(Yes, Edward Allison ran The Barrel, a goodly number of lesser known cutlers ran public houses.)



That's George Crookes. He got started in the biz around 1837. By 1840 he was doing business as George Crookes & Co and made primarily table knives on Norfolk street (a goodly number of doors down from the more famous Norfolk address of Joseph Rodgers.)

By 1862 the name had changed to Crookes & Clarke. So this razor was made after 1840 and before 1862 and I'd bet most of the other Chinese Razors were too.

look at the tang on the OP's razor it is the same as the markings on the G Crookes blade but upside down I have one with the same marking on the tang with no makers mark but on the blade it has GROESBEECK & CO IMPORTERS MAIDEN LANE NEW YORK the scales on that came on the razor had either Japanese or Chinese on them I do not know but was told it said something about a girl and or a flower, I also have a Wade & Butcher Chinese Razor and above the Markings it has Lower & Barr.

Originally Posted by Slamthunderide

look at the tang on the OP's razor it is the same as the markings on the G Crookes blade but upside down I have one with the same marking on the tang with no makers mark but on the blade it has GROESBEECK & CO IMPORTERS MAIDEN LANE NEW YORK the scales on that came on the razor had either Japanese or Chinese on them I do not know but was told it said something about a girl and or a flower, I also have a Wade & Butcher Chinese Razor and above the Markings it has Lower & Barr.

It looks like the Greaves and my G. Crookes were probably dies struck by someone copying the same source, but doing so differently. The Greaves is definitely the same as your Groesbeeck, which makes me think Greaves were who manufactured it.

Could you get a picture of the full blade etch on that one? I can track down the business in old NYC business registers and assign a pretty precise date. Groesbeeck moved around a lot.

Your Wade & Butcher is an incomplete stamp on the blade. It's Lower & Barrow.



That ad ran in the August 2nd, 1843 edition of the Huntingdon Journal out of Philadelphia, an anti-Masonic newspaper that started in 1835.

I can't find any other references to Lower & Barrow.

Oh, I take that back. I found Lower & Barrow listed in 1847 as receiving goods on the dock. What goods, I'm not sure.

If you put a mirror pilish on it not only will it look better,but the etching will dissapear and it won't matter anymore.:-)

Originally Posted by straightshooter1911

If you put a mirror pilish on it not only will it look better,but the etching will dissapear and it won't matter anymore.:-)

I would like to recommend that no one ever do this.

Sorry to scare you, it was kinda' meant as a joke, as indicated by the smiley face at the end.