Friedr. Herder Abr. Sohn No#

**Chrisl1** · 11-24-2017, 06:34 PM

Hello everybody,
inherited what appears to be a Friedr. Herder Abr. Sohn razor from an uncle. I do not have any experience with razors and have not made any attempts of cleaning the tool yet.
Have been reading up on some other threads regarding the manufacturer, which was very interesting. In most reading have done, I have seen a # on the razor. Neither side of the blade however has any specific # or stamps. What does that mean? From the pictures attached, can anybody help me to figure out the year the razor was manufactured?
Any help is appreciated!
-Chrisl1

Name: Case.jpg
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Case

Closed

Front

Side - neither side of the blade has any # or stamp

**sharptonn** · 11-24-2017, 07:11 PM

Were it a Herder, it would have tang stamp(s), FME.
Most old razors are not in the original boxes as I have found them.

**jmabuse** · 11-24-2017, 11:17 PM

This looks like a standard German or U.S. 5/8" razor, not much hone wear and perfectly good to shave with. If you're interested in straight razor shaving it would be a fine razor to start with, but it will need to be honed first by an expert.

These razors were made by the millions and the blanks could be etched or stamped with the name of a store, a cutler, a barber shop, etc. Many of them were never marked and were sold for $2 or $2.50 (in the early 1900s so think 10X today).

It's every bit as good as a modern German straight razor, but worth very little at an antique store or maybe less on eBay.

**jmabuse** · 11-24-2017, 11:30 PM

BTW it is ground like a Herder #78; no way to know if it was made by them for export. I have a Dame & Stoddard razor that was in a case marked with both Dame & Stoddard and Henckels, but no indication on the blade of the twins. (They were on the case.). The tang was marked only with Dame & Stoddard Boston, and made in Germany on the other side. But it is otherwise identical to a Henckels razor I have. Super shaver BTW, nice big 13/16" blade.