Thread: 1700's Razor ID

Hello all,

I'm looking for information on a recent acquisition. I would like to identify the maker and maybe narrow down the date of manufacture. The razor does have a dip at the toe. The mark appears to be an upside down pipe with an inverted "C" to the left of it and a reversed "D" to the right. I did contact The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire but unfortunately they were unable to find the same mark. Any help would be appreciated!

Amazing razor! Hopefully one of our resident experts will see this and help shed some light.

This is right up my alley but I was watching the auction too and no idea where the mark is from. It's certainly not in any of the common directories and if the Cutlers Co has gone through the book of marks and it's not there then that's a tough one. It's possible it could have come from outside Sheffield.

In the listing the scales looked a bit reddish. Do they have this quality in hand? I've seen it on a number of period scales and am not sure if it was original or if it's maybe reactions over the years with the chemicals in the horn from processing.

I was bidding on this one too, but I don't really know who the maker is. The long thing in the middle looks like Birks' pipe, but he didn't use C and D on the sides of it. Many others were using a pipe with something else (Fikira has a nice tobacco pipe web page about it), but none that I found was exactly like this one.
This trademark is not in the 1787 directory, but the razor was made earlier than that. Or, like ScienceGuy said, it could have come from outside Sheffield.

I'm about 80% certain it's English and made between 1750-1780 based on the design features and the letterforms used in the stamp.

Unfortunately, without some sort of breakthrough, it's likely to remain unidentified.

There are many places it could be from -- London, Birmingham, Liverpool. Nearby Bradfield had its own apprentice & masters registry. However, to the best of my knowledge, only the Worshipful Company of Cutlers in London had a book of registered marks. The organization does still exist and it's probably worth contacting them to see if they can ID it.

Thanks for the information everyone, I'm afraid it might remain a mystery. The scales have a red hue to them when light is passed through,otherwise they look just like normal blonde horn. The reddish color is only on the inside surface of the scales.