Thread: M.J. Higgins was he really a Sheffield manufacturer??

I just finished another M.J. Higgins razor. A 13/16 near wedge with barbers notch. I have done a number of these and all are great steel providing nice shaves. I have been unable to locate information on him. He is not listed in Tweedale's Directory. No luck finding him in the English census records. I even looked on the old merchants of New York City.
Was this fellow just a merchant like D.C. Halsted who somehow persuaded a manufacturer like Wade & Butcher to put his name and manufacture stamp on their razors?
I'm still looking for information but so far have come up empty. Has anyone information on this guy?

Nicely done Karl! I too have several MJ Higgins and I agree that they are very nice razors, and great shavers indeed. Unfortunately easily available information for Higgins is hard to come by as you've discovered. Perhaps we can get Martin, Manna, or Zak to chime in. I'm always amazed at what they can come up with.

I agree. I recently commissioned an expert restoration on an M. J. Higgins with new, ancient bog oak scales, and I'd love to get some information on them. There seems to be several around, but not much on the manufacturer:



http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...84#post7896984

Originally Posted by wjosephsimmons

I agree. I recently commissioned an expert restoration on an M. J. Higgins with new, ancient bog oak scales, and I'd love to get some information on them. There seems to be several around, but not much on the manufacturer:



http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...84#post7896984

I saw this razor by mycarver in another thread. He did a really nice job with your razor.
I have still found nothing on Higgins. My suspicion is he was a merchant like Halsted and paid some Sheffield maker to make razors with his name on them. No evidence of that yet.

Not very convincing but the name and date is appropriate to the razor....

Originally Posted by Martin103

Not very convincing but the name and date is appropriate to the razor....

Brazil was the last country in the Western world to abolish slavery. By the time it was abolished, in 1888, an estimated four million slaves had been imported from Africa to Brazil, 40% of the total number of slaves brought to the Americas.

Wikipedia (I know, not exactly scholarly).

What was your source? Any connection to Sheffield?

Originally Posted by wjosephsimmons

Wikipedia (I know, not exactly scholarly).

What was your source? Any connection to Sheffield?

The source was from the book: The slave trade, the story of the Atlantic slave trade 1440-1870.