Walt, your W&B pictured is a lovely razor; shoulderless, thumb notch, and the characteristic W&B tang hump give it a very graceful and rugged look.

Thanks for posting this Manah, fascinating stuff. I'm surprised at how dominant 5/8ths-sized razors were even by 1899. Also, noting the terminology used, such as "hollow point" rather than the "notch point" or "barber's notch" terminology I'm used to. On the Engstrom razors, they refer to a "file tang." Does that mean that the tang has jimps, or something else? And the use of the term "handles" rather than "scales."

It's also surprising to see how many razors I recognize that I always thought had black celluloid or plastic scales, when in fact they are rubber. I also see a number of fancy etched rubber scales in the catalog that I've never actually seen an example of in person. In fact, I think only one of my razors has rubber scales for sure, I found out the hard way when I was initially cleaning it and running it under very hot water. My fingerprints were permanently embedded in the scales, and the smell was of burned rubber.