Thread: Need help identifying my new razor. Please!

Hey guys, I've tried for a few days now to find info on this razor I picked up at an antiques shop, but the only info I found on it was the rough time period of when it was probably made.
It says "G.Felix Gloriawerke Solingen" with a stamp that looks like a bowl with a brush in it and the number 77 on one side. On the other side it says "A.Landsman New-York, City" "made in germany". It has a French tip what looks like a hollow ground and it's either a 4/8ths or a 5/8ths (there seems to be a taper on the blade from the back to the tip). The scales are made of of "ivory" plastic. There is a little pitting and the blade isn't shiny but someone that knew what they were doing had sharpened it recently because it is still sharp as what all. It came with the supposed "original box" that has seen better days. The box says "Garland Cutlery Co. Germany $3.00 Razor". As the box is in delicate condition I have put it away, but I fully intend to have this blade sent out for a professional cleaning next month. I just wanted to know more about the company that made it and it's history and maybe an approximate date of it's production. The store owner thought it was from 1902, and what little I could find online from Felix it the blade could be from anytime from 1900-1924. I have spent literally...4-5 hours looking at threads here and google searches, I already tried unicelectra.com's list of manufacturers and that was a dead end . I'll provide a link to my flicker that has pictures of it if the pictures do not work. Can anyone please help me? I would consider it a personal favor.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/6291923...n/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/6291923...n/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/6291923...n/photostream/
Note: I couldn't get the photos to load, so I put the links in.
-Mike

Your Razor is from the Felix company in Solingen in existens since 1843 until today.
The stamp that it features dates it between 1900- 1947.
I think the stamp symbols a "half moon saddler knife".

I post two links to the companys Homepage, one about the history is in english, the other is in german but it shows the cutler marks

Felix Solingen - Messer

Felix Solingen - Messer

Mike - Your razor was made by Gustav Felix who was in business from 1850 to the present time according to the Goins' Encyclopedia. The Gloria trademark was registered in Solingen in 1896 and Felix was listed in the 1922 and 1925 directories of Solingen cutlers. Your razor was branded for and imported by Landsman who was a retailer. Because of the timeframe in which Felix operated it is very difficult to say when exactly your razor was produced. But, judging from the excessive honewear towards the toe of the blade, it has seen a lot of service in it's day. There are still a lot of shaves left in that steel, so have fun.

Regards - Walt

Unfortunately the scales give no clues to narrow down the date. Certain scale designs are peculiar to an era, but plain bone was used from the beginning and is still being used today.

I have a Wester Brothers 'Atta Boy' which has a very similar spine. So I don't think that it is honewear but it is how the razor was forged. If it was honewear I would expect to see the wear on the edge not just the spine. The 'Atta Boy' brand was only used for two or three years in the late '20s and it is a very unusual spine design. So on the most tenuous of evidence that could place your razor at that age group.

Photo of my Atta Boy to show similarity in spine work.

Thank you Doc, Walt and Pauly. This was MUCH more info then I had expected! Much appreciated. I'm still curious about the 77 printed on the blade. Is this a model number? Oh Walt, I believe that those pictures are just poor quality, but I concede to your voice of experience. I figured the blade would make a good alternate for when I have to send my daily Boker.
I stropped the Felix last night for a good 15 minutes. 40 times on the cloth side and 60 times on the leather, then I wiped the blade and in between the scales down with several alcohol pads to remove dirt and surface grit. I was very pleased to find that there was NO surface rust! Most of the discoloration came off (except one small water spot). Then I oiled it up and worked some oil into the pinions to keep the scales from getting dirty again. I decided that the box was in tenuous enough shape and that the bathroom would not be the best environment for 80+ year old cardboard...So I tucked that away in my sock drawer wrapped in my grandfather's handkerchiefs.

The number on the tang is the model number. The companies all had wildly inconsistent methods of numbering so it's anyone's guess as to what 77 means.

Good to hear the old razor still shaves good.

The cutler's mark on your tang appears to be used from 1920-1947. If I'm reading the German website correctly, that is.
Mine has the same stamp. Mine has a 4/8 round point blade and black scales, I guess celluloid.

According to the companys website the cutler's mark was used between1900- 1947.

Hey guys! Thanks for all your help. I contacted Felix out of their website and I actually got a response! It turns out t he head of sales administration wanted to find out what the number stamp ment too, because he went through a catalog from 1889-1903 and found that the higher the number stamped on the blade means the sharper the honing. The numbers go from 33-77 (33 being the regular hone, 77 being the sharpest hone). I would recommend if anyone has any questions about a Felix blade, email the company through their "contact" section. They will actually work on finding something for you. It might take a week or two, but they will do it! I have a whole email log from people in the company talking about my blade (it's all in German, but thank you google translate!). Anyway, thanks guys for all the info!