Thread: Something not in the wiki. :)

Originally Posted by Martin103

Well Justin, very interesting razor with little history...............but the information you got from goins is incorrect. The Horrabin brothers were William and Samuel not Steven.
Found that all over many directories. i think perhaps your sending us on a wild goose chase!

The razor i've got has, very clearly only one R in Horabin, any ideas?

Originally Posted by brooksie967

The razor i've got has, very clearly only one R in Horabin, any ideas?

Very odd, Brooksie! Though not that odd - there are a few about:





Both Samuel, William and Samuel jnr all have their name as 'Horrabin' with two r's in birth, death and census records, for example, probate on Samuel's death:



But there are other variants of this surname (attributable to other families, not this one) such as Horabin, Horobin, Harabin etc - some even have two variants recorded, but this usually follows a mistake by the registrar filling in the birth or death register, and this is not the case here.

The only thing that springs to mind is that they paid for the tang stamp to be made before noticing the mistake, but decided to use it anyway?!

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

The only thing that springs to mind is that the tang stamp to be made before noticing the mistake, but decided to use it anyway?!

The tang stamp was cheaper with less letters, thats my theory.

In fact there was a company - W & S Horabin (one 'r') - Indian Traders!





Strangely enough, Tweedales definitive reference work, quoted verbatim by Alex, above, does not mention that W & S Horrabin (two 'r's) were razor manufacturers, although it mentions bowie knives, pen knives, pocket knives and sportsmans knives. It does however mention that they were also 'merchants' - ie factors for goods made by other people, so we really do not know whether W & S Horrabin made the razors that their name was affixed to!

Tweedale also mentions that the Horrabin mark passed on to John Baker when W & S Horrabin were liquidated in 1884. John Baker is recorded by Tweedale as being a maker of table and spring knives, and he quotes an 1879 advertisement concerned with table cutlery. The firm later sold electro-plated ware (eg silver plated cutlery, flatware, hollow-ware, etc) - razors were not plated. Tweedale says Baker filed for bankruptcy in 1893, so he had W & S Horrabin's mark for less than 10 years.

The W . S. (or, W & S) Horabin indian traders seems to have its roots going back to around 1898/1902. The logo on the single-r Horabin's Phoenix looks far more rustic and crude than that of W & S Horrabins stylised mark, so perhaps this was a conscious decision to trade on the fame of the earlier, established company (we know from Tweedale that they had an office in John Street New York, and they were also stocked by merchants such as Brownson, Slocum and Hopkins of 26 Dey Street, NY). Not only was the Thoreau, McKinley County building a trading post, it stocked general hardware too, so razors are a distinct possibility. The Horabin who bought the Thoreau trading post (as a partner) was called William S. Horabin. One of the store's assistants was Stanley Horabin, hence W & S Horabin and W S Horabin. W & S Horabin ceased to have had anything to do with the store circa 1913.

The idea that there was both a W & S Horabin and a W & S Horrabin is more of an interesting diversion than anything else, I suppose.

Regards,
Neil

Neil, What do you think about these razors stacking up against other sheffields? Is the quality still there in the one "R" Horabin Phoenix razors?

Originally Posted by brooksie967

Neil, What do you think about these razors stacking up against other sheffields? Is the quality still there in the one "R" Horabin Phoenix razors?

I wish I knew - I have not had the pleasure of trying either!

Regards,
Neil

Here is a 7/8 'Horrabin' (with 2 'RR's ) that I have, stamped RED HILL WORKS, and I will tell you that it is a wonderful shaver! The scales are pressed horn in perfect condition and are stamped 'CONGRESS RAZOR' on one side and 'INDEPENDENCE' on the other. I have since restored this and it is one of my 'FAV's'!

Wow that quite the find right there, right up my alley, the blade looks great but the pressed horn scales look like they were done yesterday.
You dont come across that very often, Enjoy!