Thread: Calling on the historical experts, I'm stumped! An unassuming mystery razor.

This is a great thread, perfectly timed for me as I got two almost twins and was wondering about the maker.

I'm in the process of cleaning up one.
I'm still not sure I'm doing the right thing, maybe I'll keep the other one as it is.



Any idea about the different letters above the logo?

Originally Posted by CSquare

This is a great thread, perfectly timed for me as I got two almost twins and was wondering about the maker.

I'm in the process of cleaning up one.
I'm still not sure I'm doing the right thing, maybe I'll keep the other one as it is.



Any idea about the different letters above the logo?

I think there's a very good chance those letters stand for 'Iridium & Osmium' and 'Rhodium' which were elements that Stodart and Faraday alloyed with steel.

In their paper to the Royal Society, Stodart and Faraday wrote:

The metals that form the most valuable alloys with steel are silver, platina {platinum}, rhodium, iridium and osmium, and palladium; all of these have now been made in the large way, except indeed the last named. Palladium has, for very obvious reasons, been used but sparingly; four pounds of steel with 1 to 100 part of palladium, has, however been fused at once, and the compound is truly valuable, more especially for making instruments that require perfect smoothness of edge.

The fact that they specifically mention the use of iridium and osmium together strongly suggests that's exactly what you have.

If that's the case, what you have there are two razors made as part of the metallurgical tests that Stodart and Faraday conducted.

I would recommend that you definitely not disassemble the second one, and if possible, put the first back in its original scales.

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

I think there's a very good chance those letters stand for 'Iridium & Osmium' and 'Rhodium' which were elements that Stodart and Faraday alloyed with steel.

In their paper to the Royal Society, Stodart and Faraday wrote:



The fact that they specifically mention the use of iridium and osmium together strongly suggests that's exactly what you have.

If that's the case, what you have there are two razors made as part of the metallurgical tests that Stodart and Faraday conducted.

I would recommend that you definitely not disassemble the second one, and if possible, put the first back in its original scales.

Thanks Voidmonster, very interesting indeed.

I'm making new scales as close as possible to the original ones for the one I'm cleaning.
The other one will stay as it is.

Your razors may be the only razors on earth with their particular alloys. I think those razors might be better for displaying than shaving, due to the historical significance(I'm normally all for using razors as they were intended).

For anyone interested, here's the paper that Stodart and Faraday wrote.

It's so odd that Michael Faraday was just the assistant of chemistry in the experiments, but he was still a wee thing at the time. Not even 30 years old yet.

It's also sobering to note that Stodart died a year after that paper was published -- sobering especially when you read the paper and all the chemical reactions Stodart is describing and you realize just how much toxic material the man was breathing in order run experiments on the composition of the alloys they commissioned.

Also, I have a plausible guess for how those two razors ended up on eBay.

They would, most likely, have been made as a control to see how long the steel would remain untarnished, and probably kept in Stodart's workshop. Since James Stodart died not long after they were made, and the company went into his son's hands, the importance of the razors would pretty easily have been lost. Then later, when the company had gone into receivership, the razors were sold off along with everything else and not necessarily with any knowledge of what they were.

Hey guys,

I have been doing some photo analysis and don't you think that gap is a little wide for a D, and that the letter that would precede said "D" looks more like an "E". The gap would be perfect for a "W" and when I dropped the saturation of the picture, made it a negative, then followed this with some fanciness the letter that is missing looked a lot more like a W ... I will try to get some screen shots with it optimized. What do you think?

Carl.

Originally Posted by straightrazorheaven

Hey guys,

I have been doing some photo analysis and don't you think that gap is a little wide for a D, and that the letter that would precede said "D" looks more like an "E". The gap would be perfect for a "W" and when I dropped the saturation of the picture, made it a negative, then followed this with some fanciness the letter that is missing looked a lot more like a W ... I will try to get some screen shots with it optimized. What do you think?

For me personally, the gold lancet case with the crown and star stamp as well as STOD/ART made it fairly incontrovertible. However, in the interest of absolute certainty, here's an image of my razor with a typeface matched STODART overlay.



It's not a perfect match for the type die used but it's morphologically the same type family, and the stamp has some kerning peculiarities, but all the letters match up to my satisfaction.

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

It's also sobering to note that Stodart died a year after that paper was published -- sobering especially when you read the paper and all the chemical reactions Stodart is describing and you realize just how much toxic material the man was breathing in order run experiments on the composition of the alloys they commissioned.

I'm worried about you Zak. It may be risky to shave with those. Who knows how many poor souls have bit the dust because of them. Stropping them undoubtedly fills the air with toxic waste.

They are like the famed 'Mummy's Curse.' Those who tamper with them .........

Send them down to me Zak and I'll take the risk. If I don't survive I'll make sure there are instructions to return them to you in a hermetically sealed canister with bio hazard symbols on it.

Well, I always like a happy ending. The best part is when finally finding the missing piece to the puzzle! Congrats Zak on your new acquisitions plus learning what the original one you have is. Always a good feeling of satisfaction. You started the year out right.