Hello
I have made some researches, as I want to write a book on the pre industrial razor French and English's razor (pre 1870)
They were a cutler's economical war between this two nations, and the price of the razor was the key !
As sheffield works kills in the egg almost all the will of european nation to manfuacture razor due to low cost and goodness of his razors, only one country remains : France (cocorico !
it that was the scream of a rooster)...thanks to very heavy importation tax .
French low grade razors were even cheaper than shefield's (about 1 silver franc) but in the first half of the 19th century, having a sheffield razor is just having a real tresor !
http://books.google.fr/books?id=aSVW...3%2C368&edge=0http://books.google.fr/books?id=aSVW...2%2C350&edge=0
http://books.google.fr/books?id=iigM...%2C1226&edge=0
A regluar grade razor worth one day of labor of a workman (no vacation and social security...) so it was quite expensive, but for the bourgeois the quality and the material choosen for the scales was the criterium of the razor's price : bone, horn, ivory, mother of pearl, and at the climax : tortle shell ! In the 1870 razros became affordable for evrey body due to the new way to produce quality steel (bessmer...) and solingen knock out sheffield to death !