Thread: A Rare Find?

Puts all of my razors to shave. And I purchase 99.9% on aesthetics! Yet another razor I have to be on the lookout for!

That's fantastic!

But you realize that whatever you paid for it, this thing will cost you a fortune in the long run as you clearly now must go to France, visit the chateau, and sample some wine. While shaving.

Very nice, lucky for you.

I've seen these come up every once in a while but never with pictures of how the blades actually lineup within the scales. Could you please take pictures from the top/bottom so we can see how the blades rest within the scales?

I wonder what kind of 7-day set you could make along this line? Sort of a Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor, ultra Swiss army knife version.

Anyway, very cool. Lucky you!

I see these every once in a while, but agree, that this one looks to be in great condition compared to the norm. Nice piece!

A lovely razor and one I would love to own!

I have no doubt it was made in england, but probably by french prisoners during the Napoleonic wars. Some of those prisons were little more than large fenced-off fields, where the soldiers were just confined, but led their own existence inside. Sometimes entire villages were given 'parole' status and some frenchmen became minor celebrities.To make extra money they made all sorts of things to sell to the locals and visitors, among which - notably - were these 'papillon' style razors.



The razor below is in the Thiers museum collection - they were also made by noted french manufacturers and were included in the catalogues of some of them:



Razor, model guillotines, ships in bottles, etc, etc were made and sold. There is an interesting book by french prisoner Louis Garneray recording his nine years afloat on a british prison hulk (an old ship moored off the coast and serving as a prison). He was confined off Portsmouth from 1806. As well as the usual gamblers, bullies and thieves, he makes mention of artists, playwrights and those earning money from trading. He also tells of how battles were fought with razors tied to sticks!

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

I have no doubt it was made in england, but probably by french prisoners during the Napoleonic wars. ... To make extra money they made all sorts of things to sell to the locals and visitors, among which - notably - were these 'papillon' style razors.

Do you have a source that definitively links papillon razors with French prisoners? That was what I had heard before, but something else I read said that was a misconception. I'm curious as to which is right, or to what degree of correctness.

I have it in a book somewhere - it's just a question of finding the book....

It's fairly obviously a french design, though.

The one in Thiers has many of the same design features. Lots of them have pictures of soldiers or sailors on them along with english words that are obviously mis-spelled ie not written by someone with english as a mother tongue.

Regards,
Neil

Here a few of the pics i saved of papillon razors i saved. Like Neil stated very french looking except for the Newcastle one.