I recently acquired a razor that appears to be a classic Wade & Butcher 6/8 hollow ground razor with a barber's notch. The scales are the typical dark bone. There are no markings on the razor except for 3 Chinese characters on the shank. They are the same as those pictured in this post. The box is a Wade & Butcher marked cardboard coffin. Does anyone have any information on these Sheffield made razors with Chinese markings? I'll try to post a picture in the next couple of days.
I've got a W&B that has a horn handle with "The Celebrated Chinese Razor" pressed into the handle and some imitation Chinese characters etched into the center of the blade. It has the usual W&B tang stamp. I will post a pic tomorrow. I am at work now.
I wonder if it has anything to do with all the contact between GB and China due to opium...
I haven't seen the chinese ones but I do have one that has Indian (possibly Hindi) letters on that I believe just spell out the maker's name - I did hear tell that they were specially made so that migrant workers could feel easier buying them - sounds like old hooha to me but you never know!
Some of these razors were made for the Chinese or Japanese market so they had those characters. I have a German Eye razor with Chinese characters on the blade.
A couple of pics. It has no maker's marks, but it looks like a Wade & Butcher to me. The box is marked W&B for what that's worth. I'm very happy with it and it should clean up nicely. Nice tight scales and little hone wear.
http://www.embiem.net/pictures/shaving/DSC_0495.jpg
http://www.embiem.net/pictures/shaving/DSC_0497.jpg
Here is a W&B I picked up on the bay. I don't think that the characters are genuine but I may be wrong. On page 17 in Straight Razor Collecting by Robert Doyle he assumes that these were made with the characters to stimulate Chinese immigrants to buy them. This seems unlikely to me if the characters are bogus but who knows.
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...ytat2/chi2.jpg
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...ytat2/chi1.jpg