Thread: "C. Franke St Paul" Anyone familiar with them?

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Thanks to 32t I think I have confirmed some of his ideas re: C. Franke.

Christian Franke was of german origin (born 1843 in Saxony, but naturalized later in the USA). He was married in 1867 and had children - non of the boys first names began with a 'C'. He lived in St. Paul Minnesota and died there in 1924.

The following clips are all from Minnesota/St. Paul City Directories of various years:

1881



1879



1876



1874



As far as I know re: the Alfred Krank connection is that until he became a partner in the firm, the old marks applied, then Christian Franke left, then we have the firm renamed H. Schnell & Krank, then Schnell & Krank, then when he took over it bacame various flavours of 'Krank' - no mention of either Schnell or Franke.

Alfred Krank was of Bavarian origin but born in the US. He sought a trade in 1880 because his father had died and he had to support his mother and other siblings - all girls, so he joined a cutlery and scissor grinders company. I have no documentary evidence, but is must have been the firm of Franke & Schnell.

By 1884 he had set up his own business:



and both Franke and Schnell were out of the picture.

Regarding Christian Franke, he was a cutler and grinder in his own right before he teamed up Schnell. He might have been one afterwards, too - who knows?

All I know is that razor bears Christian Franke's mark - no one else's - and Christian Franke was a cutler and grinder who resided in St Paul, Minnesota.

Regards,
Neil

Thanks for the information Neil! That definitely adds to the story. I was wondering why it didn't have Krank on the blade, but it looks like Franke made razors independently.

I ran into a guy at an antique store while looking for SR's and he said he had been collecting them for 63 years. I told him my experience was closer to 63 days!!
I asked him if he had ever heard of C. Frank St Paul, and he said he had without even hesitating. He said he was an American SR maker and I believe he said he made them for hardware stores and other businesses. We talked for a while, unfortunately I can't remember everything that was said though. He explained a couple things to me I didn't know about and answered some of my questions regarding SR's.