Thread: Help me Identify my little Stubby?

Hello to all of you wonderful people! A while back I Acquired this little stubby, I then put it in my "to do box" as I was hesitant to attempt honing it myself. I subsequently forgot about it!!!! (I know... I'm a TERRIBLE person!!) I pulled it out a couple days ago and started looking for info on the maker... sadly, I can't seem to find any... So I thought I would bring the challenge to the supremely knowledgeable folks on this amazing forum... any info on the maker would be greatly appreciated!! I am also interested in y'all's guesses as to what the age of it might be... I have my guess but I always like to see what you guys think... Well, without further ado... lets bring on the PICS!!!!

I'll tell you what I can, but narrowing down the specific manufacturer is very difficult.

First of all, it was made in Sheffield sometime after 1818.

Second, the hammer symbol is a rarely-seen, briefly used mark. Essentially under much pressure, the Cutler's Company got Parliament to pass a law that required any goods made with the hammer symbol to be made by hammer-forging steel rather than using a cast mold. It didn't require everyone making goods that way to use the symbol, just that anyone using the symbol make the goods that way. That law was passed in 1818.

As for who made it... Well, that's complicated.

There were a lot of Arnolds going through the apprentice system in the right timeframe.

Thankfully, there is an obscure directory listing from 1822 for John Arnold, Razor manufacturer at 7 Red Croft (or Redcroft, depending on your source). That's just about the right time, and definitely the right line of work. So chances are good that's your man.

Now whether this is John Arnold son of John Arnold (cutler, deceased) -- freed 1772 or John Arnold son of Matthew Arnold (knife maker) -- freed 1797 it's a bit more difficult to say. By age, I would guess he was the son of Matthew, since that's the younger one, but the John son of John is was in the more general 'cutler' trade which means he's a more likely candidate.

But it's possible the manufacturer of your razor wasn't the Arnold from the directory listing. There were thirteen other apprentices with the same family name all operating from 1780 to 1810!

TL;DR version

It's a safe bet your razor was made by John Arnold between 1818 and 1825. There's a slim chance it was some other Arnold.

And that Gentlemen, is why I came here for answers!! Thank you very much for the wonderful and thorough answer Voidmonster!! I never even thought about the possobility it was hammer forged versus cast molded!! I love having as much info as is possible. While I understand that solid information is difficult to come by, and I may never know the complete truth about who made it or when, having the possibilities laid out for me is wonderful! Thanks, again!

The hammer thing was hardly ever used as near as I can tell.

I've seen one Joseph Elliot razor that used it, and I think one generic 'warranted', and no others.

Though, technically, George Johnson used it and it's even familiar in that context. Enough so that I had long assumed it was part of his trade mark. Some books even list it as being (in the same way that the GR crown is sometimes listed as a mark of Wade & Butcher or some other specific company brand). It actually isn't, though!

Having spent so much time digging through all this stuff, it's good that I can actually put the knowledge to *some* practical use and help people out.