Thread: Beach...??? Old mystery razor

Hi all,
I have an Ebay mystery for you all. This particular one was described as an 'early 1800s' razor, and I took that description with an appropriate grain of salt, but it does look quite old. The blade has clearly been well acquainted with hones over the years, it has a stubby tang, and an old wooden one-piece handle. Actually that brings me to my first question: if the 'scales' are in fact made of one solid piece of material, are they still referred to as 'scales'?



The writing is sadly obscured and can only be partially read: "Beach" followed by what could either be an "&" or possibly another symbol, and then below "...chwitz". It *could* possibly read "Aschwitz" but I cannot be certain. Only the very top of the "A" can be seen, and it could have been preceded by other letters that are now obscure.


So... any suggestions? I had planned on taking it apart and restoring it with new scales, but I like the old possibly original wooden ones so much, I may just leave it as-is. But of course it would be nice to know a little bit more about this razor.
Thanks!

A random thought or two -- really all I'm capable of -- early 1800's makes sense looking at it -- 1820 or so? It really doesn't seem to me all that hone-worn, that just looks like the shape it was made, fairly common for that era. The scales? -- it doesn't seem like a razor like that would be originally scaled in wood, but brighter people will likely contradict me, it just seems like a classy razor like that would more likely come in some like of horn or ivory.

Very nice piece, should be a lot of fun for you. No idea about the brand.

William Beach 1829-1880 of Salisbury received an honourable mention for his cutlery at the GreatExhibition, and in 1862 exhibited a case containinga number of knives, scissors, razors, and daggers at the International Exhibition in London.
Not sure its the same "beach" you have there but seems it could be.

Originally Posted by stimpy52

A random thought or two -- really all I'm capable of -- early 1800's makes sense looking at it -- 1820 or so? It really doesn't seem to me all that hone-worn, that just looks like the shape it was made, fairly common for that era. The scales? -- it doesn't seem like a razor like that would be originally scaled in wood, but brighter people will likely contradict me, it just seems like a classy razor like that would more likely come in some like of horn or ivory.

Very nice piece, should be a lot of fun for you. No idea about the brand.

Thanks! Good point re it originally being scaled in horn or ivory. I think that's probably a good call. It didn't show up very well in the pics, but there is quite a bit of hone wear near the shank. There is a little point sticking up that certainly isn't there on purpose.

I'm beginning to think curiosity may get the better of me and I may take it apart to see if I can get more details on the maker, and re-pin it into the existing wood scales. I'l sleep on that decision a bit though.

Interesting... I'll do some digging on Wm Beach and see what I can find. Thanks for the tip!

Hmmm. Beach? Wouldn't be "son ov' a" would it? Sorry,, I couldn't resist.. Just a joke....

Originally Posted by Cangooner

Thanks! Good point re it originally being scaled in horn or ivory. I think that's probably a good call. It didn't show up very well in the pics, but there is quite a bit of hone wear near the shank. There is a little point sticking up that certainly isn't there on purpose.

I'm beginning to think curiosity may get the better of me and I may take it apart to see if I can get more details on the maker, and re-pin it into the existing wood scales. I'l sleep on that decision a bit though.

It would be very difficult to hone in a point like that on the blade, especially without wearing the spine very significantly. Need better pics , maybe.

The handle doesn't seem to me at the same quality level of the blade, so it could be not original... I figure that somebody broke the original, probably better (horn or ivory) scales and substituted them with a piece of wood worked with his pocket knife and some other common tool. ...Just an idea, of course. The handle could be very old as well (especially because of the washers/pinning style, which, as far as I know, seems to be typically from the XIX century), so you could want to keep it...
A nice find, congrats!

Originally Posted by stimpy52

It would be very difficult to hone in a point like that on the blade, especially without wearing the spine very significantly. Need better pics , maybe.

Agreed (on both points - will try for better pics), but having seen the terrible things that my Mom can do to kitchen knives with a wonky wetstone, I now pretty much anything is possible if a stone and a blade fall into the wrong hands.

Originally Posted by Mauri

The handle doesn't seem to me at the same quality level of the blade, so it could be not original... I figure that somebody broke the original, probably better (horn or ivory) scales and substituted them with a piece of wood worked with his pocket knife and some other common tool. ...Just an idea, of course. The handle could be very old as well (especially because of the washers/pinning style, which, as far as I know, seems to be typically from the XIX century), so you could want to keep it...
A nice find, congrats!

Thanks - I am increasingly leaning towards not doing a damn thing to this razor for the foreseeable future. I may want to clean and hone the blade to try it out one day, but don't want to do any harm. Just my luck to finally get hold of an old, old wedge, then back off before using it!