Thread: Magnum Bornum ?? any info would be appreciated.

Hi I'm new to the forum, this morning I went on a little adventure looking for some new razors and I bought two of them today one is a E.G. Gustafson, its pretty small and didn't have scales on it. But the one is huge and the whole length of the blade it reads Magnum Bonum. The makers mark is pretty worn down all I can make out on it is a partial of "on's" and below that it says "Razor". I'm trying to find out what it is exactly. It looks like a w&b .. but from what I can read of the mark it has me puzzled. Hey I got both of them for $10 !! So I'm hoping that I got something good here. Any ideas or info would be awesome thanks !!

Hard to see in the light, the blade was really rusty.

Hi Mate ....You've given us one pic only (so far) and I think that a couple more are needed.
The Magnum Bonum has been referred to before as a Sheffield-made razor, but we really need
to see what's left of the maker's stamp.....More pics please !!

Enlarging the toe of your blade shows a possible problem with pitting on the bevel edge but,
I'm certainly no expert....


Welcome to SRP and keep those pics coming !!

Here's a Wade and Butcher Magnum Bonum, which basically means, "Really Great", lots of razors said this...fantastic blades, you can just make out the etch on the blade face on this one...

Based on mine not having the barbers cut, and from what I can make out of the makers mark I don't believe it is a W&B ... It's just when o Google the magnum bonum it usually shows up as a W&B. Based on the mark from what I can tell and have seen online it maybe a graves and son's. Either way it is a great razor, as I have been collecting them I want to get into restoration. With that being said I also don't want to experiment with this one if it's as good of a razor as I'm hoping it is. I am completely addicted to this !! Lol !! I will take a few more pics and see what you guys think.

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If it's worth it I may have it sent to someone to have it restored ..

Could be a number of different things. One possibility is Tillotson's Celebrated Razor (celebrated is likely the word before 'razor'). Other possibilities could be Ronton's, or Wilton's. The Magnum Bonum phrase appeared a lot on razors in the early 1800s (often on the spine); on the blade face a bit later, the shape of this one suggests +/- 1830s-50s but that's just a guess.

'Magnum Bonum' translates roughly to 'a great good' (good being a neuter noun here of 2nd declension, in nominative case hence the -um). It was applied, as stated, to goods to denote them as superior (ref., though much later: https://books.google.com/books?id=LJ...0latin&f=false) Another reference, about pens: https://books.google.com/books?id=pz...ffield&f=false

Also, it's not really that something looks like a WB, it's more that most WB razors had the same stylings as a whole lot of other razors of the period. Trends strongly shaped what the razors across various manufacturers looked like, and it seems (Zak would know more here) that workers moved around a bit.

Could be a lot more missing on that tang. Greaves and Son's, Wosty & Son's , everybody had Son's :<0)
What ever, it will shave like a dream when you get it fixed up.