Thread: R.M. & CO Fine India steel - id help

Originally Posted by WW243

Hey, what happened to the razor at the top of the post?

Nothing, it is still on my display case.

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Those are bone scales - the hole at the wedge end just under the pinning is typical. That along with the washers (collars) used with the pins is all the ID necessary for me, at any rate.

Regards,
Neil

Possible but unlikely. It is really thin, other bone scales that i have is much much thicker.

Originally Posted by Traskrom

Possible but unlikely. It is really thin, other bone scales that i have is much much thicker.

No - not at all. I have bone scales that are really thin - as thin as some thin ivory scales. One Joseph Rodgers I have has bone scales as thin as any ivory I have seen.

Using the magnifier that is part of the OS's system tools (a poor quality image, but larger none the less) I also fancy I can make out pores at the pivot end, too. Another sign that goes against them being ivory.

In any event its a simple matter to solve - a large, finely focused close up of the wedge - the side with the pit - should solve it, providing the highlights aren't blown out. If that doesn't there are other steps, but the easiest, simplest one is the one to try first.

Regards,
Neil

I'd vote bone for the RM in the original post # 1 and ivory for the other one in post # 7. Like Neil, I've had razors with bone scales that were very thin. My two bits.

I have a set of bone scales that are thinner than a dime. Here is the post I did on them. These were the first bone scales that I have seen that were that thin. http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...ne-scales.html

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Using the magnifier that is part of the OS's system tools (a poor quality image, but larger none the less) I also fancy I can make out pores at the pivot end, too. Another sign that goes against them being ivory.

Ok Neil, specially for you.



1200x1900

Thanks!

Bone - no doubt about it - you can even see some open channels that carried nerves and capillaries - ivory does not have that. Remarkably clean though - they usually get either bunged-up with dirt and look like a lot of little black spots, or the bone has not been prepared properly in the first place, and the organic matter in the channels is collapsed and decayed blood vessels and nerve cells.

Excellent pic, BTW.

Regards,
Neil

So. Naturally I wonder about RM and Co?

Originally Posted by sharptonn

So. Naturally I wonder about RM and Co?

They made razors with bone and ivory scales with fine India steel blades.

Don't ask me how I know that ......

Originally Posted by sharptonn

So. Naturally I wonder about RM and Co?

There are some Sheffield possibilities:

Robert Fead Mosely & Co. R F Mosely was born in 1841 in London, moved to sheffield in 1856 where he was apprenticed by George Oates, and set up on his own account in 1861 or thereabouts. By 1871 he was at the Portland Works in Randolph Street. The name was later famous for the trial of Harry Brierly's stainless steel. However, right from the start he was labelled a scissor maker and general cutlery manufacturer, On top of that in reports of his extensive business, razors are not mentioned once (doesn't mean he didn't make them, though). The main thing which goes against him are his registered silver marks - all as 'R F M & Co' - the letter 'F' figured in each of them.

The other chap who is of some interest was Robert Morton, whose mark was indeed RM&Co as detailed in listings of his hallmarks - he was a silversmith and is famous for obtaining the first silver hallmark in Sheffield in 1773. His first mark was RM, later that year RM&Co was added. However, he seems to have been a silversmith, and he seems rather too early for that style of razor - maybe his company endured for a while, though.

Less likely is Robert Morton, b1859, foundry owner and brewers engineer who moved to Burton on Trent and founded R M & Co in 1880, a company that erected complete breweries. There is an outside possibility that the razors were made for him as gifts.

None of the above seem very likely to me. I also wonder why there is no place of origin like 'Sheffield' on the tang. Possibly RM&Co were just importers, maybe from the US, and not makers.

Regards,
Neil