Thread: W&B Boxer Rebellion Razor

I studied Chinese in college, and while I'm not as familiar with it as I was then, I have to agree with JimR... That looks like gibberish. Could be a feeble attempt at duplicating real characters by people who lacked the skills to do so effectively...

Either way, cool razor

[The Heathen Chinee]
Which I wish to remark,
And my language is plain,
That for ways that are dark
And for tricks that are vain,
The heathen Chinee is peculiar,
Which the same I would rise to explain.

Ah Sin was his name;
And I shall not deny,
In regard to the same,
What that name might imply;
But his smile it was pensive and childlike,
As I frequent remarked to Bill Nye.

It was August the third,
And quite soft was the skies;
Which it might be inferred
That Ah Sin was likewise;
Yet he played it that day upon William
And me in a way I despise.

Which we had a small game,
And Ah Sin took a hand:
It was Euchre. The same
He did not understand;
But he smiled as he sat by the table,
With the smile that was childlike and bland.

Yet the cards they were stocked
In a way that I grieve,
And my feelings were shocked
At the state of Nye's sleeve,
Which was stuffed full of aces and bowers,
And the same with intent to deceive.

But the hands that were played
By that heathen Chinee,
And the points that he made,
Were quite frightful to see, --
Till at last he put down a right bower,
Which the same Nye had dealt unto me.

Then I looked up at Nye,
And he gazed upon me;
And he rose with a sigh,
And said, "Can this be?
We are ruined by Chinese cheap labor," --
And he went for that heathen Chinee.

In the scene that ensued
I did not take a hand,
But the floor it was strewed
Like the leaves on the strand
With the cards that Ah Sin had been hiding,
In the game "he did not understand."

In his sleeves, which were long,
He had twenty-four packs, --
Which was coming it strong,
Yet I state but the facts;
And we found on his nails, which were taper,
What is frequent in tapers, -- that's wax.

Which is why I remark,
And my language is plain,
That for ways that are dark
And for tricks that are vain,
The heathen Chinee is peculiar, --
Which the same I am free to maintain.

Wow fellas,
Did not expect to receive this kind of response. Sorry I am just getting back to you as I was out of town for a time.

Jim, you are correct about the Brits and the opium trade. The Chinese would only trade silver specie (solid silver coin) for their tea. This was a problem for Britain because their whole populace was hooked on tea and they wanted to trade hard goods if possible for tea not their sterling. So they found a consumable that would work in trade... which some smuggled in on the same ships that carried the tea out! No wonder the Qing dynasty wanted to expel all foreigners.

Manah, looks like you have one as well. The story about this being a Boxer rebellion commemorative was from the vendor that I purchased it from and there was no way for me to verify it except to turn to the experts on this forum. I appreciate your input!

In regard to the Chinese characters on the blade, my brother speaks some Mandarin. I may email him the pictures. He runs a school in the Orient and speaks several languages and if he does not know himself he has friends there who do. I have to agree with those of you that say it is gibberish though. After looking closer it does not look like real characters but I cannot say definitivly.

John, as far as selling it, I would consider that but I have no idea what it is worth. Contact me privately. I would trade for an 8/8 Wade & Butcher which is what I would really like! I have been outbid on number of 8/8s on the Bay... somebody wants them really bad! Guess I will throw down a couple hundred on one and then just maybe...

Again I appreciate all of your interest and comments. If you need to know something about a straight razor, this is the place to ask!
Best regards,
Denny
300WSM

It almost looks like "Jia Gu Wen 甲 骨 文"or something similar. I passed it to my friend and she said it definitely looks like old Chinese, but wasn't sure, so passed it to a teacher friend. They concurred that it looked Chinese, but were all guessing to as to what it meant, and they all had their own ideas. Guess this one is for someone who studied the ancient Chinese lit. Maybe it is just a westerner's impression of what the Chinese "Oracle Bone Inscription" looked like.