Thread: French razor dating and id'ing

So I got this ~7/8 razor from the bay for only $25, and I was wondering about its origins and manufacturing date. I would like to know if it is a true stubby/ tailless razor. The scales are horn and there is some patina with very minor pitting (should disappear with some light sanding) and it barely shaves arm hair. It is a near wedge just a tad more hollowed than your typical Sheffield razor. Well since an image tells more than a thousand words:

It's a lot harder to figure out French razors based on shape or things like the presence or absence of a tail. There were many different regions producing many different styles all at the same time, and fashion for tail or no-tail came and went and came back again.

The real proof would be someone who knows French manufacturers better identifying the maker. I don't know French manufacturers well enough.

All that said, my innate razor age-sense thinks that's 1860's or so, from the shape and condition of the scales and the blade. But please don't take that as gospel! It's just a guess.

Found a few other "Courtoisnon" razors, some looked really old and some newer ones. Im leaning towards that Courtoisnon was more of a distributor then the actual maker, a store in Paris selling cutlery located on Boulevard St-Martin.

you might be right, if so its origins are really obscure since there are no markings of any kind. another thing that amazes me is how compact the blade looks it is a 7/8 but i keep on checking and remeassuring just to confirm it is a 7/8 blade.

This sort of razors is also known as a razor "de perruquier"





They were still made during the second part of the XIXe century.