Originally Posted by
Voidmonster
The answer to what my rarest razor is is probably this one:
Made by James Stodart with a steel alloy he and Michael Faraday developed, involving mixing high quality India steel with Rhodium supplied by its discoverer, William Hyde Wallaston. These were manufactured for a few years by Stodart and then his nephews after his death, but his nephews quickly moved on to greener pastures, like inventing the process of aging whisky in Sherry casks.
Or maybe it’s this one.
A prize given to the United Mechanics Cricket club of Sheffield in 1863. The United Mechanics Cricket club was so enthusiastic about this up and coming sport, that just three years later they became the United Mechanics Cricket and Football club.
Surely there weren’t many of those made. Not more than a team’s worth.
Probably it’s these, though.
There are two pair. One purchased by William Archbald of Kelso, Scotland (the razors are the earliest incarnation of Pickslay & Green’s ‘Peruvian’ steel which used the same formula as the Stodart razors). 1823.
The second pair, which I got years later from someplace completely different, were also purchased by Archbald, but for his grandson, William Archbald Houliston, in 1845.
Those 4 are all that exist. So those are probably the rarest I have.
Except maybe...
