Thread: Wade and Butcher: Celebrated German Razor?

I have a Wade and Butcher razor that was made in Sheffield, England but says "The Celebrated German Ground Razor." Has anyone seen that before?

Don't mind the Elliot.

That certainly is strange. Is she full hollow (or more hollowed than most W&B's)?

BTW, that is a beautiful Elliot.

Never seen that before. Probably used the same way as "Hamburg Ground?"

I saw one of those on ebay not too long ago (hmmmm)... I was wondering about that.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

That certainly is strange. Is she full hollow (or more hollowed than most W&B's)?

BTW, that is a beautiful Elliot.

I don't know yet. An antique store owner with whom I deal sent me the photo. I claimed both razors (and A LOT more) but she's in the Middle East right now. It'll be a while before I get them in my hands.

Originally Posted by Del1r1um

I saw one of those on ebay not too long ago (hmmmm)... I was wondering about that.

I have never purchased a straight razor from eBay.

Originally Posted by TstebinsB

I have never purchased a straight razor from eBay.

You should try it; it's really quite fun. And highly addictive.

Maybe it's a sabotage... one never knows... the relations between England and Germany have not always been shiny...

A lot of this has to do with the "kudos" that the german branding had. Solingen was famous for sword making - it was called the City of Swords - and their blades were prestigious world-wide. In the 1700s a group of swordsmiths took their sword making expertise with them to England, so already "made in Germany" had a mystique surrounding it as far as sharp, pointy things were concerned.

Although well supplied with the raw essentials for making steel, when Sheffield Silver Steel became available the germans began using it. The proximity to rivers (for power) and forests (for fuel - steam power) and the fine reputation they had built together with the proximity of towns that were world-wide trade centres meant that razor-making in germany was well ahead of the competition. To cash-in on this, english razor makers had their blades forged and ground in germany, just for the kudos of the german marking on the blade, then shipped back for assembly in England.

This 1911 newspaper article (reference is near the bottom: Putting On A German Stamp) tells how the german trade shunned the english mechanical hollow grinding machine of 25 years before, and how sheffield some cutlers came to grind their own blades but continued to stamp them "german ground" even though they had never left the country! An intermediate process saw the nearly finished blades being sent to germany to have no other work done on them other than to receive the german marking.

Regards,
Neil.

Based on the article, the practice of sending Sheffield razors to Germany or only stamping Sheffield razors with "German" or "Hamburg" was short-lived. The 1918 article says that the practice "is now done away with" and that hollow ground razors were introduced only "a quarter of a century ago." That means that W&B German razors weren't made before 1893, at the earliest, and weren't made after 1918, at the latest. Since the English initially didn't like hollow ground razors, they probably didn't start this for a few years after 1893 but we'll go with that year anyway.

Thanks for the article, Neil. Now I have a story to explain the razor and a timeframe for when it was made.

Neil you are a resourceful man. Neat article. Where it says,,"this gave them a vogue allowing them to command higher prices". Some things never change. How much did the price increase Telly ?