Thread: Two Gems from Virginia

I recently spent a week in Virginia and went razor-hunting in the local antique stores. I turned up two nice ones, one at the antique mall in Williamsburg and the other in Charlottesville, where my aunt and uncle live. The first's a Joseph Smith & Sons 5/8 swayback with barber's notch and...well, I'm not entirely certain how you'd classify the point. It came with what was claimed to be the original box. The second one's a Cox & Sons 6/8 round point with some nice etching on the blade. Cox & Sons were apparently from Southampton, but the back of the tang is stamped "Ground in Hamburg". Odd...

Both razors have horn scales. The J. Smith's scales are a much lighter color than I've seen before in horn. They're in great condition, so cracks around the pins, no nicks or gouges, no worms. The blades were also in very nice condition.

My uncle restores vintage fountain pens (specializing in Sheaffers) and he let me use his micro mesh sheets and simichrome to touch them up a bit. Now the gunk's off the scales and the blades are mirror-shiny. There was some minor pitting left after polishing, but nothing too serious.

Right now I'm home with my family in Israel, but when I get back to the US I'll try my luck at honing these babies.

Is anyone familiar with Cox & Sons? Or for that matter, Hamburg as a source of razor manufacture?

Seems I couldn't upload all my photos on one post, so here's the swayback.

Beautiful Find, Noam!
I have heard of Sheffield steel ground in Hamburg (I think I saw it on Ebay) I am sure it is just like Dovo using foreign steel in some of their razors (but made in Solingen). Let us know how they shave!

I grew up in Southampton The Bargate is the remains of the medieval boundry walls ,the building is still standing & is a museum now .Im not sure but i believe that other parts of the wall ect dissapeared during the bombing In WW2. Cox & Sons used to be a sporting shop selling sports equipment ,also firearms &knives so they probably had some Razors made up with thier logo . Hope this helps Paul

Originally Posted by Sharp&Shiny

I grew up in Southampton The Bargate is the remains of the medieval boundry walls ,the building is still standing & is a museum now .Im not sure but i believe that other parts of the wall ect dissapeared during the bombing In WW2. Cox & Sons used to be a sporting shop selling sports equipment ,also firearms &knives so they probably had some Razors made up with thier logo . Hope this helps Paul

Actually yes, that helps a lot. Thanks for the info, my friend!

Originally Posted by Noam

The first's a Joseph Smith & Sons 5/8 swayback with barber's notch and...well, I'm not entirely certain how you'd classify the point.

I believe "barber's notch" is how you'd classify the point.

Beautiful finds.