Thread: Williams Razor Company, from Massachusetts

I got in the razor I bought on eBay the other day. Williams Razor Company, Worcester, Mass. is on the tang and "The Williams" is in Gold lettering on the blade. There was but one picture, and I think most people thought that the gold wash was rust. I was kind of curious, so I put in a bid and won it at 18.51 FREE shipping. The description said that it belonged to her Grandfather that died before she was born. I told her I would hone and shave with it in her Grandfathers tribute. It had a very little rust along the front edge of the blade, maybe from some blood, or who knows. I honed it out and got it past the 12K on the hones and have shaved with it. Good shaver, but I really don't have a clue on William Razor company. Any ideas out there? Nothing on the reverse tang indicating it was made in England or Germany, just what you see in the pictures. Scales are in excellent shape and closes right in the middle. Looks like a 1/2 hollow or 1/4 hollow blade from the front, as the top tang is kind of wedge shape until about 1/2 way down the blade.
The blade is quite polished, and also very shiny. Even the tang is shiny like my new Dovo and Revisor. Top of spine is free from any defects, and there is a bit of staining, not rust, toward the toe of the blade. Also, the gold wash seems to be a little faded from the middle on toward the back (heel), unless it was that way from the factory.

And, a close up of the tang.

Pretty ornate with the gold for a razor of $18.51. Even has jimps underneath, and get this. The jimps have absolutely no rust anywhere in the depth, even in the area around the pivot pin. Came from Arizona, so it may have helped it with the dry weather. Notice also on the first picture the lack of really any honing marks on the spine. To me it looked like it had not been used very much nor honed little if any.

Beautiful razor. I wonder if it has any connection to the Torrey company, also based out of Worcester, Mass.

Another possible connection would be the Swedish razor co( name changed from Excelsior in 1895). Note in the adv from the 1895 city directory that they would etch your own name on razors and knives.

I kind of wondered if that gold wash at the front (toe) of the blade was not supposed to be that thick? In other words, it was supposed to look more like "Williams" and be a clean gold etched lettering. Very little wear on the spine from honing.