Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 37
Like Tree1Likes

Thread: Dating razors: British Hallmarks & sovereigns

  1. #1
    clavichord's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Italy
    Posts
    394
    Thanked: 159

    Default Dating razors: British Hallmarks & sovereigns

    Investigating around my razors, I gathered some infos regarding british hallmarks, traditionally used by silversmiths. I realised that some hallmarks were also used by straight razors manufacturers:

    Crown [City mark] = Sheffield (from 1733 to present)
    Anchor [city mark] = Birmingham (from 1733 to present)

    One more find (not strictly connected with silver hallmarks):

    WR [sovereign's Duty Mark] = William IV (1820-1837)
    VR [sovereign's Duty Mark] = Victoria (1837-1901)

    Some examples (Wade&Butcher's in my gallery):

    Pic.A (razor #11): [crown] + WR; very precise dating! The ebay seller of this razor published a pic in SRP some days before the auction asking info about the dating. Members agreed that it should be quite old (..the rust on the blade was supporting this opinion..).

    Pic.B (razors #55-57): [crown] + V R;

    Pic.C (razor #25): [anchor]; the anchor is sometimes used by Wade&Butcher but I don't know if this implies a relationship with the city of Birmingham; I couldn't find infos at this regard. "Sheffield" is absent in the mark on the tang, but this is quite common between W&B razors (very frequent among W&B "barber's use" blades). It happens that the anchor is also part of the emblem of Solingen.. eheh!

    EDIT: Join "Those damned collectors" social group!
    Attached Images Attached Images  
    Last edited by clavichord; 05-04-2009 at 11:49 PM.
    Substance likes this.

  2. The Following 15 Users Say Thank You to clavichord For This Useful Post:

    0livia (05-06-2009), bellerofonte (07-23-2009), Costas (05-05-2009), dave5225 (05-05-2009), Geezer (12-29-2014), igitur55 (05-27-2009), Jimbo (05-27-2009), McWolf1969 (05-26-2009), Miner123 (12-06-2009), mry314 (05-25-2009), ndw76 (05-26-2009), Neil Miller (05-06-2009), onimaru55 (05-26-2009), singlewedge (05-25-2009), Undream (05-27-2009)

  3. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Posts
    249
    Thanked: 37

    Default

    When I saw the title Dating Razors I thought "That dude really likes his razors. I just shave with mine"

  4. #3
    clavichord's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Italy
    Posts
    394
    Thanked: 159

    Default

    Me too! I really enjoy honing and shaving with mine! ..OK, not with the rusted one!

  5. #4
    clavichord's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Italy
    Posts
    394
    Thanked: 159

    Default

    Different sovereign's duty marks among your blades? Before William IV, only Georges (from 1714 to 1830: George I, II, III, IV).
    Last edited by clavichord; 05-06-2009 at 12:27 PM.

  6. #5
    Beard growth challenged
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Berlin
    Posts
    1,928
    Thanked: 402

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by CraigJ View Post
    When I saw the title Dating Razors I thought "That dude really likes his razors. I just shave with mine"
    Same here! Got me curious!

  7. #6
    clavichord's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Italy
    Posts
    394
    Thanked: 159

    Default

    ..you, guys..

    eheheh!

  8. #7
    clavichord's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Italy
    Posts
    394
    Thanked: 159

    Default

    Success! I found the missing element: the sovereign's mark GR, indicating George IV, 1820-1830. Even better: it comes from a Wade&Butcher razor (in not very good conditions..). Also, note that there is an error in the first post of this thread: William IV was king between 1830 and 1837.

    Name:  GR.jpg
Views: 4461
Size:  11.2 KB

    Now it could be interesting to give a look to the change of tastes between 1820's and 1850's. Look at the tails of three different W&B's: GR (1820, 1830), WR (1830-1837), VR (1837-1901).

    Name:  tails.jpg
Views: 4330
Size:  11.7 KB

  9. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to clavichord For This Useful Post:

    CJBianco (07-31-2011), Miner123 (12-06-2009), Undream (05-27-2009), Walt (05-26-2009)

  10. #8
    < Banned User > John Crowley's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Ft. Worth, TX
    Posts
    611
    Thanked: 169

    Red face

    William IV ruled from 1830-1837. A W<crown>R can narrow the age of a razor down to a seven year period - this is the best anyone can do. I have only seen one razor of the G<crown>R variety that was obviously old enough to be George the third. Anything other than a V<crown>R is very rare.

    John


    Quote Originally Posted by clavichord View Post
    Investigating around my razors, I gathered some infos regarding british hallmarks, traditionally used by silversmiths. I realised that some hallmarks were also used by straight razors manufacturers:

    Crown [City mark] = Sheffield (from 1733 to present)
    Anchor [city mark] = Birmingham (from 1733 to present)

    One more find (not strictly connected with silver hallmarks):

    WR [sovereign's Duty Mark] = William IV (1820-1837)
    VR [sovereign's Duty Mark] = Victoria (1837-1901)

    Some examples (Wade&Butcher's in my gallery):

    Pic.A (razor #11): [crown] + WR; very precise dating! The ebay seller of this razor published a pic in SRP some days before the auction asking info about the dating. Members agreed that it should be quite old (..the rust on the blade was supporting this opinion..).

    Pic.B (razors #55-57): [crown] + V R;

    Pic.C (razor #25): [anchor]; the anchor is sometimes used by Wade&Butcher but I don't know if this implies a relationship with the city of Birmingham; I couldn't find infos at this regard. "Sheffield" is absent in the mark on the tang, but this is quite common between W&B razors (very frequent among W&B "barber's use" blades). It happens that the anchor is also part of the emblem of Solingen.. eheh!

    EDIT: Join "Those damned collectors" social group!

  11. The Following User Says Thank You to John Crowley For This Useful Post:

    Undream (05-27-2009)

  12. #9
    clavichord's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Italy
    Posts
    394
    Thanked: 159

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by John Crowley View Post
    William IV ruled from 1830-1837. A W<crown>R can narrow the age of a razor down to a seven year period - this is the best anyone can do. John
    Well, isn't that the same I wrote (grammar mistakes apart )?

    The GR is #64 of my gallery, WR is #11, VR is #55. Sorry, but pics were taken before cleaning the blades.

  13. #10
    The Hurdy Gurdy Man thebigspendur's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    New Mexico
    Posts
    32,737
    Thanked: 5016
    Blog Entries
    4

    Default

    The English are meticulous when it comes to documenting things. I have some old English Pocketwatches from the 1700s with Sterling cases and they have a variety of hallmarks on them. They usually identify the assay content, the makers mark, the company mark, the city where manufactured and often times the guild.
    No matter how many men you kill you can't kill your successor-Emperor Nero

Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •