Thread: Who made this razor

I was out with the wife and went to an antique store where I ran across 3 old razors. Stubby's, in horn and look to me original early1800's razors. One is a John Barber superior Steel with an anchor etching, One is a Clark and Hall Cast Steel but the third I have no idea. I paid a bit much for these and will be posting them for sale soon as I wanted them to be saved.
So I need to know what this third one is. No name, just stamped with what looks to me like a sword and a canon. And on the spine, it says Cast Steel. The spine is so curved it almost looks to be bent up but that cant be.
Does anyone get a clue?

Get with Zak or Scienceguy. They will have an answer.
Man, it is really swoopy. Neat!

Reminds me of this one.



Just can't remember who posted it.

It looks very similar to the trademark of William and John Birks, cutlers from Norfolk street in Sheffield, who had a trademark of sword bounded by two ampersand signs above and below of it. They are listed in 1787 directory.
Nice catch indeed!

Never seen one like that before. Interesting!

That’s a very cool razor. If you need somewhere to store it so your wife isn’t angry, there still a little room in the hoarders corner.

Dimab's got it.

William & John Birks, who used both a one of the zillion pipe variants and the dagger/sword and ampersands.

The mark as recorded in Gales & Martin is different, but that's not unusual. There are a lot of errors in G&M.

The style is also very 1787ish when swoops were the thing, like this one made by Joseph Hall after 1789 (when he was granted the mark).

Thanks, Zak for confirming. And thanks to Dimab for his quality guess. I really like the swooping spine. Sure looks cool. I will be selling two and keeping one of these three I just bought. Not sure which just yet. Might do a little fixing on them or might just sell them as I got them. Haven't had the time to think about it yet. I was just so overwhelmed when I saw them, I just had to buy them all! The wife knows Rez so thanks for the offer. I'm not sure she's very happy about me buying them but she was with me so I couldn't get away with anything.

Bought 5 razors at the same time so it hurt! But what are ya going to do? It's a hobby. And I cant take the money with me in the end! LOL.

Birks, William & John. Horn, personally rescaled. Sheffield, late 18th century. (Ref. R0045)

Originally Posted by bouschie

Birks, William & John. Horn, personally rescaled. Sheffield, late 18th century. (Ref. R0045)

You forgot the link.