Thread: Country of origin stamp requirement

After the international trade agreement requiring the country of origin to be stamped on razors, did any manufacturers such as W&B produce blades stamped England for export and just Sheffield for domestic consumption?

My guess would be they would not bother to have and use 2 different stamps but it is only a guess. Anyone know for sure?

Bob

As far as I know all razors were stamped with the country of manufacture after the trade agreement regardless.

Originally Posted by johnmrson

As far as I know all razors were stamped with the country of manufacture after the trade agreement regardless.

I think that is correct but I'm not sure. From what I've read W&B was more interested in export than domestic sales anyway. Much larger population across the pond.

It is not so exact

McKinley Tariff - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Start there and continue the search for even more info on dating antiques..

The stamps are simply a clue to the dates on any antique and even more so on razors, it was revised again in 1914 to include the "Made In" part of the stamp as law but many makers used that before..
You have to understand that Country and Region stamps were done long before 1891 out of pride and for advertising there was just a newb that posted a 1700"s era razor yesterday with a "Spain: stamp on it..

Glen

Thanks for the response but I was wondering if "after" the McKinley Tariff Act would companies omit the country of origin if the razor was for internal domestic use. I can't see them going to the trouble of running 2 different stampings concurrently for that purpose. Seems to me it would more costly than just stamping every razor with the country of origin and being done with it no matter where it is to be sold. I have no concerns about what stampings were used previous to the act.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

Glen

Thanks for the response but I was wondering if "after" the McKinley Tariff Act would companies omit the country of origin if the razor was for internal domestic use. I can't see them going to the trouble of running 2 different stampings concurrently for that purpose. Seems to me it would more costly than just stamping every razor with the country of origin and being done with it no matter where it is to be sold. I have no concerns about what stampings were used previous to the act.

Bob

I don't know for sure, but it makes sense to me that they would have stamped all of them the same. Not only because of the additional cost in time and material of using separate stamps, but in the time sorting one from the other.

I think that is a logical stance, I would assume that those that were un-stamped between 1890-1891 were simply sold as non-export..

I did quite a bit of reading on this and I found a really good explanation of the realities of dating antiques by using the stamps, I will try and find it again and re-post it..
I will say after reading that one, was when I started telling people that the stamps were simply one clue to the mystery of when it was made, rather than an absolute

Thanks again Glen

The only reason I posed the question as somebody on another forum supposed that their W&B stamped Sheffield was newer that 1891 and was made for local domestic consumption. This was a W&B with stacked washers at the wedge pin and the wedge pin end of the scales was the squared off variety. I just thought it unlikely to be newer that 1891 or so.

Personally, I am happy if I can approximate a production time frame covering a 20 year span. Basically gave up trying to precisely date a razor.

Bob

In the UK we have to refer to the Merchandising Act, which controlled trade names, imports, place of origin marks, etc, etc, etc. The Act was continuously updated, with landmark updates to the original Act of 1862 (Merchandising Trademarks Act) which dealt with the fraudulent use of trademarks; in 1875 (Trademarks Registration Act) the use of the Patents Office to Register trademarks was used for the first time; in 1883 there was a major revision of the whole Act; and again in 1888 and 1904 and 1919 and 1938 - the last remaining in force until the Act was superseded by another in 1994 (however the Trade Descriptions Act of 1968 had already superseded a lot of the original act up to 1954).

1886 saw members of Parliament attending a conference in Rome, and part of that Act was added to the Merchandising Act the following year.

1887 saw the made In Germany mark being made mandatory as a response to Germany's laws against foreign imports, alerting the public to the same and allowing them to decide whether to give their trade to Germany. It was also intended to stop the large-scale practice of German cutlery makers using forged 'Sheffield' stamps on their goods (they got over this by sending the items in a box, with just the box marked as Made In Germany). Over time German goods, once considered shoddy, became noted for their excellence, so the Made In Germany mark was now help in esteem whereas its primary reason was punitive. Also in that year "Foreign Made" with no other details of country of origin was deemed acceptable.

As far as "England" being stamped on UK domestic goods such as plated ware, pewter and other goods, this was only mandatory for goods sold in the USA after the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890/1 was passed, so in effect 'England' means that razors bearing this mark were from after 1891.

Then there was an hiatus, followed by 'Made In England' mandatory for UK domestic exports after a revision to the Tariff Act in 1909 and mandatory in 1921 for exports to the USA.

So for the domestic market, say for Sheffield made razors, knives etc, the local 'Sheffield' mark would have been enough, possibly up to the 1920s. At the introduction of the Act, there would have been many old stamps with a lot of life left in them, so it would make sense to use them alongside the new stamps until they became unusable. I would not expect there to have been a whole-scale throwing out of the old stamps overnight after the Act was passed. Indeed, with companies like Rodgers who were routinely using old stamps on a mix'n'match basis so that any dating of their product by 'his or her majesty' of 'their majesties' was totally unreliable, I reckon they would have held on to the old stamps for dear life!

Regards,
Neil

Thanks Neil. Another consideration is that those people making these things would never have dreamed that one stamping or another would be of interest to collectors in the coming years. Or that there would be collectors/enthusiasts. They made razors for people contemporary with the makers to use, and that was the extent of it in their eyes. IMHO.