1 Attachment(s)
Help for datation - Fox razor inside
First of all, hello everybody, it's really nice to find such a place, full of razors enthusiasts.
Secondly, please excuse my english, as it is not my mother tongue.
I recently bought a beautiful stub tail english razor that I have difficulties to date.
First the pictures:
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/272163181.jpg
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/649225484.jpg
At first, I basically dated that razor to 1790-1810: wedge profile, stub tail, straight handles. But I like to have things well documented so I did a few search.
When you google "fox straight razor", you quickly find Fox Cutlery, a Solingen brand. Doesn't match. Dig a little deeper and you'll find the Fox brothers:
Quote:
The Fox brothers (John: 1714 - 1790s, Stephen: 1716 - 1773, and William: 1719 - 1769) were Samuel's uncles, and Samuel was heir to their business Samuel ran Fox and Norris and later Samuel Norris and Son
(source: Full A to Z list of Razor Manufacturers & their Dates of Operations)
Here we find a William ! Bingo !... Except that he's supposed to have died in 1769... So here is my main question: is it possible that this razor has been manufactured, let's say, during the 1760's ? I know that english razors have had tails longer before french ones did, but this kinda surprised me.
It would be possible that the W. FOX mark had been used after William's death but the Fox brothers shared with Mathew (then Samuel) the *P mark. Here is a John Fox razor, using the *P mark instead of his name only :
http://straightrazorpalace.com/attac...ohn-fox-10.jpg
http://straightrazorpalace.com/attac...ohn-fox-11.jpg
(source: http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...king-info.html)
This makes me think that, at William's death, the surviving brothers would have used either the *P mark, or their own name (John or Stephen), or both... But I may be wrong.
Talking about this razor on a french forum (Coupe-chou Club), it's been suggested my blade has been reworked someday (when ?) like this:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/attac...h-dscn3919.jpg
(from: http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...rge-smith.html)
What leads us to that:
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/50...5083256913.jpg
Definitely a 1780-1800 blade profile, but could that be a little older ?
And, to complete the mystery, I just found a William Fox in some 1781 document:
http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/839727WilliamFox.jpg
(source: https://books.google.fr/books?id=jqB...J&pg=PA289)
Same adress as Fox and Norris, but 12 years after his death... now I'm definitely lost...
So, gentlemen, any information would be very, very welcome.