New addition to the razor family

[stevieb]

Picked this little item up on ebay last week. It's a Joseph Rodgers 5/8", looking forward to trying it.

I have no idea about a date for it but if anyone can help there, I'd like to know a rough date as I think it adds to history of it.

There seems to be a serious lack of them in antique shops in Northern Ireland (as in none, any I've tried I always get a 'Why do you want one of those old things?' look), so ebay or the classifieds on here seem to be the only other choices.

[Martin103]

Hi StevieB, nice razor to bad the scale is chipped, that said "cutlers to their majesty 1830- 1837".

[stevieb]

Yeah shame about the chip but at least it doesn't affect the pin so rather than replace the bone scales, thought I would leave it.

that said "cutlers to their majesty 1830- 1837".

wow, that old?

[PigHog]

Oooh, nice one

There was a 6/8 Joseph Rogers wedge with horn scales and a barber's notch on eBay, last week. I was hoping that a small crack in the scales would keep the price a bit lower as I didn't really want to spend too much but I kept putting my max up as I got out bid and the longer the auction went, the more I wanted it. In the end it went to some guy for £40.10 (my max was £39.10), who bid right in the last few seconds. (If it went to one of you, I hope it's as good as it looked!)

Your razor makes me sad that I didn't win it! Enjoy it, though. I've noticed that Joseph Rogers razors seem to go for quite a lot, compared to some other razors around.

[stevieb]

I've noticed that Joseph Rogers razors seem to go for quite a lot, compared to some other razors around.

Yeah I noticed that as well, though I think the cracked scales on this kept the price down. Got it for £11.50, though every other one I've seen went / goes for well over that as you've mentioned. Really don't know why this went so low. There's only one huge problem now, I'm on ebay looking for another STR8 haha.

[Voidmonster]

Hi StevieB, nice razor to bad the scale is chipped, that said "cutlers to their majesty 1830- 1837".

I certainly agree that it's a lovely razor, but I've got to disagree about the date-range for the stamp. Rodgers used that one from pretty much 1830 onwards. If you look closely, on the right hand side near the pivot on this razor, there's an ENGLAND stamp:




My guess on your razor, StevieB, is between 1860 and 1890.

[stevieb]

With the missing part on the scales, I've had a good look and don't see an England stamp.

[Voidmonster]

With the missing part on the scales, I've had a good look and don't see an England stamp.

So yours is most likely prior to 1891, though not necessarily. The England stamp was, if I'm reading my sources right, only required for items to be exported. Not that I think it matters in this case because I'm pretty confident your razor is older than that. It's just a little hard to be more accurate than a range of decades for that period of production.

[Voidmonster]

With the missing part on the scales, I've had a good look and don't see an England stamp.

Oh, and I should clarify because my first response here was a little misleading --

The picture I posted was to show that Joseph Rodgers kept using the 'Cutlers To Their Majesties' wording far past 1837 (which is why I pointed out the England mark on it).

[stevieb]

Yeah don't worry, even if it's late 1800's, still far more history than my my Kropp and new Dovo BQ