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Thread: ID and date request

  1. #1
    Shave This Hart's Avatar
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    Default ID and date request

    How rare are these?

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    Last edited by Hart; 05-11-2014 at 02:08 PM.
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    Thread derailment specialist. Wullie's Avatar
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    Dime a dozen......

    Just kidding. A Nowil in that condition would be pretty scarce in my mind.

    Doesn't appear to have been used or messed with in a LONG time.

    I'd grab it if it were me.
    Member Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club, participant SE Asia War Games 1972-1973. The oath I swore has no statute of limitation.

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    Senior Member sheajohnw's Avatar
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    I know little about dating razors, but to start the discussion, I think the razor dates from very early 1800s or the 1700s based on:
    -blade edge being at the same level as the shank,
    -very short monkey tail,
    -wedge grind,
    -natural scale material,
    -scale straightness,
    -bulls eye washers.

    I do not recognize the maker or know about rarity. Someone that really knows will probably add to or correct my response.

    HTH
    Last edited by sheajohnw; 05-11-2014 at 02:44 PM.

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    Senior Member blabbermouth RezDog's Avatar
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    I am not good at dates. I would grab it because it is in the crazy old and in good shape category. I'd want it for it's age and condition and hope it was rare. Grab it!
    Geezer, BobH, bongo and 1 others like this.
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  7. #5
    Senior Member silverloaf's Avatar
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    Nowill dates back to around 1700 with knives etc I believe, and this to me looks more like 1805-1810 ish. Nothing definitive on my end
    Silverloaf

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    Senior Member silverloaf's Avatar
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    And I believe it would be thomas nowill, up to 1825 but again, nothing concrete here
    Silverloaf

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    Captain ARAD. Voidmonster's Avatar
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    That's a complicated one!

    I can tell you with some certainty it was made before 1816 when Thomas Nowill sold his works to James Crawshaw.

    With equal certainty, I can say it was made by the Nowil half of Nowil & Kippax.

    Take note of the different spellings of Nowill/Nowil. That razor is using the same spelling as the Gales & Martin listing for Nowil & Kippax.

    Joseph Nowil died in 1774, and I don't think that razor is that old. His son Thomas took over.

    But the records for Nowil(l) & Kippax are extremely confusing. In the 1860's, Sheffield old timers said that the partners sometimes made things under their own names and it was an off & on kind of thing.

    Things aren't really helped by a complex web of intermarriages (including a widow of one family directly marrying into the other).

    IMHO, the razor is 1790-1805, but it could easily be as late as 1815. Stuff from that time period is very difficult to pin down.
    -Zak Jarvis. Writer. Artist. Bon vivant.

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  12. #8
    Shave This Hart's Avatar
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    Heh, now that I have it in my possession, a more thorough look shows a previous owner scratched his name in the scales.
    Sam Lane?

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    Senior Member bongo's Avatar
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    That's brilliant !!....To think that razor was in use at the time of the battle of Waterloo
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    Senior Member johnmrson's Avatar
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    I think that it's definitely pre 1800. I believe that razors that had the blade coming directly out of the tang (on the same level) are older than most people think.

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    This pair of razors are in the V&A Museum in London and are dated 1700-1750. The razor could well be before Nowil's death in 1774.

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