Thread: W & T Marsh Old English early pre Marshes & Shepherd c1820?

Picked this old beauty up last week and initial research indicates that it was made by the cutler brothers William & Thomas Marsh before they were Marsh Brothers Co. and before they partnered with their brother in law Shepherd becoming Marshes & Shepherd. Have not seen this logo before in this forum, so it may be quite rare. I had initially planned to rescale it in a nice honey horn but decided after a slight polish that I should leave it alone as it is beautiful as is. The wood scales (possibly walnut or ash??) have acquired a rich patina over the years. They are nice and thin, without cracks, work well, so they will live on. The brass washers were probably an attempt to replicate dome collars or maybe just a functional fix with products on hand. They seem to add character as well. Just need to put a shaving edge on it and add it to the rotation. Just to share. Comments welcome. Thanks for looking, Austin

That would really look nice with some stacked washers! I may have a set, will check if you are interested. But it does look just fine like it is. By looking at the shape of the blade, tang and monkey tail she looks to be pretty old, say the 1700's, maybe very early 1800's. Would love to find one in that good condition. Should make a great shaver!

Interesting razor for sure, glad you decided to keep the wood scales and the wild washers. Are you sure it is stamped Marsh look like 4 letters to me?

Originally Posted by Martin103

Interesting razor for sure, glad you decided to keep the wood scales and the wild washers. Are you sure it is stamped Marsh look like 4 letters to me?

Yes, it is definitely "W & T Marsh".

If you can scrub it up a bit on the insides of the scales and get the pivot tight, all the blade would need is a light, fine steel wool detailed cleaning and light polish, Renwax.
Hone it up! Neat piece!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

If you can scrub it up a bit on the insides of the scales and get the pivot tight, all the blade would need is a light, fine steel wool detailed cleaning and light polish, Renwax.
Hone it up! Neat piece!

Probably will need to do a bit more cleaning up the blade. Will try the steel wool and that may even bring out the logo better. Will need to tighten the pivot as it is still loose. Don't believe the pivots are nickel silver but are steel. Peening will be interesting and know that I'll need to be careful and go slow as I don't want to crack these scales. Any suggestions or recommendations on tightening would be helpful. Thanks Tom and will try the Renwax.

A little wad of fine steel wool clamped onto a hemostat, some WD40.
Up and down. Smash some q-tips with the hammer and use Maas or similar in between, gentle and slow.
Needs to be preserved, for certain.

Great find Austin. The pins are probably old iron nails.

Definitely early-to-mid 1820's. It's amusing to see the Marsh brothers were in on the Old English thing too. Sheffield trades talked like it was John Barber's mark, but I think in reality it was a generic and Barber was just the one to popularize it. The first ad I've found for that slogan is this one:

The slogan goes back before Barber or the Marsh's careers. The first ad I found is from 1818 and is promoting Rodgers' Old English razors. The first John Barber ad is from 1821. More than anything, it was a style of razor with a tall, squared spine, a very particular heel and typically a long-cut shoulder. I'm a sucker for'em, myself.

TBH, I think that is long-grained hickory?