Thread: Age of this J.Wiss & Son razor?

How's it going. I recently purchased this razor from Ebay. 1st razor, I work in Newark so I thought it was an interesting choice and it has so far worked well.

My question is on the age of the blade. J. Wiss & Son was open from 1885 - 1969, which is almost a century. Does anyone know a more precise age, maybe within 10 years or if it is over 100 years old? The only thing I have is that it is still squared, which if I recall, was going out of fashion near the turn of the 1900's.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

- Jesse

First, you have the dates of J Wiss a little wrong. The company was started in 1848 as Jacob Wiss Cutlery. In 1885, a few years after Jacob's death, the two sons renamed the company to J. Wiss & Sons. Then it was in business until December 1, 1976. At that point it became part of Cooper Hand Tools.

Razors were made from near the beginning of the company. Popularity of straight razors plummeted after WWI. J Wiss ceased making them in the middle 1920s.

There are two catalogs of Wiss razors on the web. The razors with names, like your Wiss Special, are completely different between the catalogs. Yours does match the one in the 1915 catalog:

J. Wiss And Sons Co - 1915 Catalog: Page 53

Don.

That catalog is amazing! If only more companies had archived that kind of material it would give us so much more information to work with.

No company archived that catalog. Except for my catalog collection from the 1970s, I bought all the catalogs from either a trade catalog dealer or on eBay.

Don,

Are you any relation to the cutlers? If so, is there any more you can tell us about their history?

I am one of many descendants.

I've put everything on their history at my website: J. Wiss & Sons Co. - Scans of vintage books, pamphlets, catalogs, ads, etc.. Razors were eradicated from their history after they stopped making them. I was fortunate to come across these two catalogs. I also have a razor ad elsewhere at the site and an image of a razor ad not in my collection that isn't at the site.

Thanks for sharing, that catalog is really cool indeed. Imagine a 7 days set in a hard case and 7 strops for the princely sum of $30! I wouldn't have guessed my Cosmo was that old, it must have lived a fairly pampered existence as it has aged quite gracefully and still holds a whopper of an edge.

Originally Posted by DonWiss

I am one of many descendants.

I've put everything on their history at my website: J. Wiss & Sons Co. - Scans of vintage books, pamphlets, catalogs, ads, etc.. Razors were eradicated from their history after they stopped making them. I was fortunate to come across these two catalogs. I also have a razor ad elsewhere at the site and an image of a razor ad not in my collection that isn't at the site.

I find it odd that they would, as you put it "eradicate" razors from the company history. Surely there's nothing shameful about having made razors.

Originally Posted by DonWiss

I am one of many descendants.

I've put everything on their history at my website: J. Wiss & Sons Co. - Scans of vintage books, pamphlets, catalogs, ads, etc.. Razors were eradicated from their history after they stopped making them. I was fortunate to come across these two catalogs. I also have a razor ad elsewhere at the site and an image of a razor ad not in my collection that isn't at the site.

I saw in your site that you collect pics as they go by ebay! There is one in ebay at thr moment...

i didnt see this one in your pic collection but it is in the catalog