Thread: can anyone help with info

My father gave me a straight edge that had belonged to my great grandfather then grandfather then him (my father went to barber college way way back in the day) but I can't find it anywhere on the web. The box is a ludo shear and razor Solingen Germany. The razor itself has hunter razor with a dog in grass etched towards the end where it attaches to handle. The blade itself has gold embossed images of George Washington and Abraham lincoln. Back of blade near connection to the handle there's small decorative etch work along with the number 735 etched above Germany also etched in the blade. I cannot find anything on the web so I'm assuming the razor does not belong to this box or it is a less known or rare blade. Obviously it has sentimental value and I look forward to using it for many years. My great grandfather immigrated to america from Belgium with his father in 1905 so I'm a 27 year old with pretty old parents so I infortunetly never met grandparents or great grand parents. I would just love some history on this beautiful razor. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Nice clear and well lit pics of all angles would help

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You should get another razor to learn with. This one needs to wait until all the awful newby mistakes have been made. I have my Great Grandfathers razor, and it is what got me started in straight razors. It comes out for special occasions and at times when I am feeling nostalgic. It is a great shaver, luckily I haas gotten other early on to save it from me. Pick up a nice inexpensive and shave ready razor from the classifieds. Welcome to the forum.

Hi Lammy,

Goins Encyclopaedia attributes the mark to an import firm called Radigan, Rich & Co. I usually do not pay much attention to entries in this manual as it contains so many glaring inconsistencies and plain misinformation, but in the absence of anything else lets go with it - for now!

R, R & Co are mentioned in 1907:



and in 1908:



So, they were definitely a substantial company. Some razors have a diiferent version of the company name: "Radigan Rich Co, Germany" on one sife and "Hope Cutlery Co" on the other.

Some Hope Cutlery Co razors are marked 'Albert Schmidt, nachf' which means that Albert Schmidt aquired the Hope Razor Co ('nachf is short for 'nachfolger' which means successor to).

Anyway, that is a bit OTT. It appears that your razor was made in Germany and imported into the USA by Radigan, Rich & Co, they re-distributed - if we can believe Goins!

Regards,
Neil

I'm envious you have that treasure from your family. My grandfather was a barber in Caribou, Maine in the early 1900's. We never met as he died before I was born. I wish I had one of his razors. I do have a straight razor that was my wife's grandfathers and it has a special place in my collection. Congratulations on a great piece of family history.

LUDO SHEAR & RAZOR WORKS
Solingen, Germany
ca. 1930 - 1971

I found this at Straight Razor Manufacturers and Dates of Operation

I may be mistaken but I don't think the box is original to the razor. The box says red imp on it. But I don't know everything so I may be wrong. Seems like a nice razor. I always love unique etching, even more so when theres gold involved. Like mentioned above get a another razor not as fancy and one that doesn't have sentimental value to it and learn on that first. While your learning on that send yours out to get honed and possibly cleaned up if you want. You can usually get a good vintage razor under 50 and sometimes if you know what to look for around 20. Or you could get a new dovo Best quality or a ralf aust for a decent price.

Hi Lammy

Welcome to the forum. That is a wonderful heirloom razor in what appears to be very good condition. I would follow the advice to put it aside till you have learned to shave with a less valuable razor. If you decide to have it restored consider having it done professionally by someone who knows how to preserve those fine etchings.

Bob

Originally Posted by RezDog

You should get another razor to learn with. This one needs to wait until all the awful newby mistakes have been made. I have my Great Grandfathers razor, and it is what got me started in straight razors. It comes out for special occasions and at times when I am feeling nostalgic. It is a great shaver, luckily I haas gotten other early on to save it from me. Pick up a nice inexpensive and shave ready razor from the classifieds. Welcome to the forum.

Agreed. I have given that advice many times. Get a couple of other razors to learn all of the creative ways to destroy a razor during shaving, honing, and restoration. Don't try anything with that one for at least a year when a straight is perfectly comfortable for you to handle.