Thread: Help with age of these three please

Hello,

Let me start off by first saying i am still very new to the lifestyle and very inexperienced. I recently purchased these three razors and I am very happy with them. I love the history of such a personable object and would appreciate any I sign as to the approximate age. The person who sold me the first one guesstimated 120yrs + and I was curious if anyone on the forum was able to have a more specific age range of the blade. I looked up the manufacturer and they were in business for many years,
however to my newbie eye it is very hard for me to date specifically.

Here is what I know about them:

1) 5/8 Near Full Wedge (not much hollow to it) Joseph Rogers and Sons made in
Sheffield EnglanD

2) full hollow grind quick &easy on one side and on the reverse "s.r droescher sollingen Germany" it also has an "SRD" with an arrow through it.

3) "tropical 44" on the razor. Made for a barber supply in Florida.

I am more interested in the approximate age and history then any value and would
appreciate anybody's guess as
to approximate age.

Thank you, and I have enjoyed reading a lot of your posts as I attempt to learn the lifestyle.

BTW.. This is my first time uploading photos..
so they may be out of order **fingers crossed**

Hi jackcross, and welcome to SRP. The Joseph Rogers looks to be early 1900's, the other 2 could be 1920's to 1950's. A nice bunch you have there, the Tropical 44 looks stunning.

Thank you! The tropical shaved beautifully, even with my newbie hand. So the Joseph Rogers would most likely date to the early 1900's? It has a nice heavy all most full wedge blade and was my first true straight razor shave (a whopping day ago lol) like I said I am definitely a newbie. I do collect 18-19th century bottles and antique coins, etc though and truly appreciate the history of such a personable object like a SR. The history and craftmandhip really appeals to me about this lifestyle... That's why I am so curious about the age of these razors lol.

Looking on my phone, but if it has country of origin, eg. England, it is post 1891.

I would estimate the Joseph Rodgers & Sons around 1900. The other two looks like 1930 or 1940 I think.
One thing's for sure...we'll never be really sure.

I took these pics just now, they are a little better. It just says "Sheffield" do the post 1892 ones say, "Sheffield, England"?

If it just says Sheffield on the blade, then it is presumed to be pre 1891.

Thank you Dimitri!
It looks as if there is no "England" however it could be worn off,
But due to the spacing I don't think it is there.

My memory might be wrong here, but I believe that Rodgers continued to use the same basic stamp design with the abbreviation "Eng." added to the right side at 90 degrees to the rest and with the bottom of the letters towards the pivot pin.

I would say that the Joseph Rogers is 1840-1850ish. Perhaps even a little earlier. The tail whilst being a reasonable length still looks pretty chunky indicating that it's earlier than other estimates.