Thread: Felice de Maria = H.M. Christensen?

I picked up an interesting razor today.



If you take a look in the library, here:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwi...rranted%22_7/8

you will see a very similar razor, also made in Brockton, Massachusetts (quite the hotbed of razor manufacturing apparently).

Here is more of the Felice de Maria:







Also a round head. Also in blonde celluloid with a black wedge. Also saying "Warranted" in capital letters on the back of the tang.

One difference though is that the one in the library is supposed to be 7/8"; this one is just a shade over 6/8".

I wonder if the business was sold to a family named "Felice de Maria"? Or perhaps the brand was introduced by H.M. Christensen to appeal to immigrants in the area? If you read "Moby Dick" you'll see that Southern European immigrants have been around Massachusetts for quite some time now.

Had a couple H.M. Christensen razors in the past, one was a round point. Currently have a 6/8 square point that I'm making a set of scales for but have not decided on scale material yet, most likely Alternative Ivory with lead wedge.

H.M. Christensen are some very good quality fine shaving US made razors but and seem to get overlooked.

Originally Posted by DoughBoy68

Had a couple H.M. Christensen razors in the past, one was a round point. Currently have a 6/8 square point that I'm making a set of scales for but have not decided on scale material yet, most likely Alternative Ivory with lead wedge.

H.M. Christensen are some very good quality fine shaving US made razors but and seem to get overlooked.

A lot of US made, are overlooked.
Think on this, the 13 colonies were all European descent. The craftsman were too, the difference would only be in the ore used, and where it was derived from.
IMO.

The old Brockton razors were made there, I think. Much different than the later ones as the company was bought and moved to New Bedford, which I believe were German imports..
These later ones were stamped with the Whale Logo.

As in all of razor history, the razor-making crew may have split after the business was sold, remaining in Brockton under a different name.


I have seen several of the early ones which were made for other hardware and cutlery sellers to sell.
This example seems to fall into that category?

A link with a picture....

http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...ml#post1051183