Thread: Prices of early 1800s razors when made

Hey, thanks for the effort. It is hard to find out. We expect so much from the web,
but all the old records are on paper or microfilm and need to be scanned in and
have character recognition run on them to make them easily searchable.

At this point a week's wages seems a good guess.

Originally Posted by ggfinn

Hey, thanks for the effort. It is hard to find out. We expect so much from the web,
but all the old records are on paper or microfilm and need to be scanned in and
have character recognition run on them to make them easily searchable.

At this point a week's wages seems a good guess.

Indeed not. A good guess is one thing. An effort? An educated guess is quite another. What you have received is an astute, educated guess in detail. Researching history is exhaustive and not many can do it properly. Neil strives to help, but will tell it like it is.
If you wish razor history, prepare yourself for dead ends and crazy family history. You may not comprehend what you see. Yet it is real, yet unknown. Many things are lost. JMHO

Just to help with any calculations on that "sword steel" price comparison.

the fashion of that time was for "small sword" often referred to as a "court sword" these were similar in shape to a rapier, but not as long or heavy. usually a lighter cross section as well. So they used rather less metal than their larger counterparts.
And yea, that silver handle would have been a big factor in cost. I have seen some as short as 18 inches, 24 or more. There were longer ones, but I'm not sure at what point they ceased to be a "small"
I would say there was as much steel in them as perhaps 3-5 razors?
If you could find a basic steel price and silver price for the time frame, it might help to determine which portion of the sword cost what, and use that info to deduce razor steel production cost (not including labor of course)

So the next time yall hold and use a straight razor from the "early days"....think about all that work and how much it cost to buy that beautiful straight razor you have during that time period...
Makes a person feel humble about this day and age we live in now. Thanks for all the information on this thread......

Originally Posted by Willisf

So the next time yall hold and use a straight razor from the "early days"....think about all that work and how much it cost to buy that beautiful straight razor you have during that time period...
Makes a person feel humble about this day and age we live in now. Thanks for all the information on this thread......

Yes, certainly, that is the reason I accumulate and renew, if necessary, an old razor.
To add a bit,about a century later:
In 1912:
Average income= $1209.0
Loaf of bread=$0.04
Gallon of gas=$0.11
New car=$650.00
New house= $3395.00
Good man's wage $1 a day
Nice razor? $1 t0 $5
~Richard
More:
A shaving set, razor, mug, soap, and a strop was $1.75 to $3

I was not able to find a circa 1815 price list for razors, but I did find one for
edged woodworking tools. The price of a craftsman's jack plane was 2s8d in 1816.
The bodies of planes then were wood. Cast iron plane bodies were much later.
A jack plane blade would have roughly the same amount of cast steel as a razor.
That implies to me the cost of a razor in 1816 would be circa 2s, which is less than
I expected, more on the order of a days wage than a week.