Thread: F. Herder #3

It isn’t really easy to put your model of the Herder razor in the correct time frame. Herder is one of the oldest Solingen companies in the cutlery trade and goes back to the time of the thirty years war. In the year 1623 a certain Jürgen Herder was mentioned as a producer/ hardener of swords.
The first trade mark, the „Pikas“ - ace of spades, was registered 1727 from Peter Herder. After his death 1762 his sons Abraham and Johann Peter took over the company, followed by the son of Abraham and so on……
During that time the company was named Joh. Abr. Herder & Sne (Johann Abraham Herder & Söhne).
1839 Friedrich Herder joined the company. From 1841 the company was named Friedrich Herder Abr. Sohn until today.
I don’t know if the company was named Friedrich Herder without „Abr. Sohn“ at any time. But the signature „F. Herder“ was registered as a trademark itself.
The crossed keys trademark is first mentioned 1848:



Later on the crossed keys symbol was used together with the company name „F.Herder A.S.“ or solely on the back side of the tang, having the company name „Friedr. Herder Abr.Sohn“ on the other side (together sometimes with the ace of spades symbol and the terms Solingen and Germany)
So I think your razor is marked with a combination of two trademarks from Herder, the „F. Herder“ and the symbol „crossed keys“. I have not found the combination of this two as a single registered trademark.
Given the information that the crossed keys trademark was registered earliest 1848 your razor must be made afterwards. In 1859 Herder build up a new fabrication site at the Grünewalder Straße in Solingen. Some examples of catalogue sites from the late 19th century/early 20th century do all show „Friedr. Herder Abr.Sohn“ on the tang of the razors.
So my estimation would be that your razor was made somewhat between 1850-1860. But the only way to get a real proven dating would be to find an old – and dated – catalogue, that shows your razor.

Regards Peter