Thread: Wm Hyde

Originally Posted by gooser

thanks .. ya I think there was another onde in a thread that had a few more razors but I like this one and am gonna try to save it for myself ..lol..

Gooser - the tangs in the first two illustration would have run into the blade without a definite heel being present. It is only plenty of subsequent honing that has produced apparent gap between blade and heel as in fig. 1,

The third razor has a totally different tail shape. So that rather rules out 1810 - 1835 in my humble estimation. From the rest of the pics, 1835 0nwards look close.

However, I do not necessarily agree with the datings of those pics, nor do I agree that there were not a variety of shapes present at all periods - look at today's razors, you get some space-age looking ones, some 1940s-50s looking ones and some very early looking ones - all in the same decade, and some of those shapes have been around for 75 years or longer, so in my opinion it is very brave to hazard a date without having the full makers history, whether he acquired his mark from some one else, or whether his mark was acquired by someone else....

I'm not trying to derail the thread or anything, just pointing out some of pits you can fall into and the other hazards that accompany armchair research

Regards,
Neil

I think the picture is a large generalization and with all things when you generalize you loose some accuracy. The 1810-1835 tail group was also a generalization. It is a long range, and at best I would think that razor to be 1830 at the oldest. It does have a definite heel and may easily be older than that. As show by your research it is a complete unknown at this point. It is much simpler for you historians to get closer date ranges when there is a little more info stamped on the tang, things like SteelHouse Lane, which would give a more accurate time frame as many people seemed to move around in those days. I am pretty happy that there are a few around that can find the information that is available. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but when it does it is amazing the information that comes forward. Even when there is no definite information to be found I appreciate that input too.