Quote Originally Posted by sheajohnw View Post
As a life long resident of MA and NH, I am interested in the history of this Worcester MA company. I have two Torreys, a 5/8 spike point and a "Swedish Razor" frame back model. Both razors have the arched tang label with the arrow through "US" in the center and both are good shavers. Good Torreys can still be found at reasonable prices.

As I recall from forum discussion, the arched tang label is from the early 20th century. Earlier tang labels were straight line print. I wish that I could find a catalogue and other documentation of the different models made over time and how to tell them apart.

Torrey was a pioneer aviator and industrialist. The success and later complete failure of his strop and razor business is a classic business school riches to rags case study. Torrey refused to adapt to changing market conditions believing that since straight razors are the best shaving instruments, the public must eventually come to its senses and return to straight razor shaving. His company and descendants eventually became penniless by the 1960s.

A similar fate appears to be developing for Eastman Kodak and has occurred to the lamented MA computer giants, Digital (DEC) and Wang Laboratories, at one time solid great companies to work for in MA which could or would not adapt to changing markets.

Worcester was named after its counterpart in old England and is the second largest city in MA with a population of 181,000. Yes, I can spell Worcester without having to look it up and know how to pronounce its name (Sounds like Wister as it is pronounced in old England). Phoenetic pronouciation is never correct and its use would result in the speaker's immediate identification as an alien to New England. For natives of MA, "Wister" (preferred) often becomes "Wistah".
If Torrey´s company had lasted another 50 years he would have set the precedent for the classic "riches to rags to riches" business model for knowing more about what consitutes good shaving than the poor general public, who were "lead down the garden path."