Thread: Something not in the wiki. :)

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