Straight Razor found with metal detector in town famous for a civil war battle.

All,

I'm posting this on behalf of my wife's grandfather. He lives in a very small southern town that was/is known for a relatively large battle during the Civil War. He was poking around with his metal detector a few weeks ago and found a straight razor buried along the top of a creek bank that runs through his property. He cleaned the razor off and oiled the blade with light weight oil. After looking it over, here's what I know about the razor:

It says "Mouleson Brothers" on the blade close to the handle. Near the words "Mouleson Brothers" it has four letters: "XL?T" (I couldn't read the third letter). The blade has a notch at the end shaped like a "v".

In the middle section of the blade are the words "swiss razor." Above those two words are some other words, but I can only make out a few of the letters.

The handle is wooden with brass pins through it to hold it together. I couldn't find any markings on the handle.

The razor is in excellent shape. There's no rust and the handle is not rotten or broken.

I guess I have a few questions: Where can I find out more information on this piece? What is this history of "Mouleson Brothers"? Is there anyway to tell how old it is? Is the handle original to the blade?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've run into a lot of dead ends so far.

Can you get any pictures of the razor?

PICS !!!!

And the other letter is probably an "N" XLNT as in Excellent it is a quite common stamp on razors

Glen is right - if its 'Moulson' and not 'Mouleson" Brothers.

Some of Moulson Brothers cutlery was stamped XLNT. Their factory was the Union Works.

Attachment 126796 Attachment 126797

The firm was began in Sheffield in the 1820s, mostly dealing in tools, but by 1850 they had offices in Pearl St., NY and dealt in cutlery. I think they also made plough irons, hand saws, dovetail saws, chisels, wood planes, knives, and so on. Thomas Moulson was the Master Cutler in Sheffield in 1854.

In the late 1860s there was another Moulson - John Moulson, based at the Globe Works. US trade was very profitable for both John Moulson and Moulson Brothers. There was some sort of family tie, as later on both firms gave the same addresses (1880s - Division Street and Green Lane). Sometime around that date or earlier Moulson Brothers had becom Moulson Bros & Co. Both firms had ceased trading by 1890.

Regards,
Neil

Wow, neat story! I hope you are able to find more info on it, and yes, WE NEED PICS!!!! :P

Neil's got you covered on the date ranges for the company. I can tell you a tiny bit about their history selling goods in the United States.

The only advertisements I can find for items branded as Mouslon Brothers date to 1860 and ran in a Boston newspaper -- they were ads for ice skates.

The great majority of goods that Moulson Brothers exported to the US were, like Neil says, edge tools. It was that later Moulson brother who ramped up the American business in the late 1860's

Since it says 'Swiss Razor' on the blade, I would guess that it's a frameback capitalizing on the popularity of Jacques Lecoultre's razors. To the best of my knowledge, these sort of copies also date to around mid-1860. To do any better than that, I'd really need to see pictures of the razor.

The thing that's throwing me though is this:

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Originally Posted by jnbbkwsk

... found a straight razor buried along the top of a creek bank that runs through his property.

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The razor is in excellent shape. There's no rust and the handle is not rotten or broken.

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That makes it seem extraordinarily unlikely that it was buried there in the early years of 1860. Steel, and especially horn (the handle is almost certainly horn, not wood) simply do not last long near a creek bed.

I must add, if buried in an oxygen free environment say mud, artifacts some times comes out amazingly preserved.

As said above where are these pics???? We NEED pics !!! ;-)

I'm with Zak on the chances of it being buried that long and in 'great shape with no damage'. IOW, I'm from Missouri, ya gotta show me ....... :popcorn:

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I'm with Zak on the chances of it being buried that long and in 'great shape with no damage'. IOW, I'm from Missouri, ya gotta show me ....... :popcorn:

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Hey Jim,at our age you and I have been buried in mud all our lives and still look pretty good:))

As an aside some razors were used to cut the greased cloth patches clean
after setting the ball in the muzzle of a muzzleloader.

When used as a knife the sharpening could have been aggressive and
challenging from the shaving point of view. Reenactors could prove
to be a wealth of knowledge on this point. They may also be the source
of the lost blade not the battle especially considering the condition.

Thanks for all the fast input! I'll get some pictures up as soon as I can. It may be a few days. As far as the condition of the blade and handle, he said they were covered in mud when he found it. But he was able to get everything cleaned off. And the "N" being the missing letter makes sense because while I was looking at it I kept thinking it was either an "N" or an "M". Pictures to come.

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Originally Posted by jnbbkwsk

Thanks for all the fast input! I'll get some pictures up as soon as I can. It may be a few days. As far as the condition of the blade and handle, he said they were covered in mud when he found it. But he was able to get everything cleaned off. And the "N" being the missing letter makes sense because while I was looking at it I kept thinking it was either an "N" or an "M". Pictures to come.

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Thanks, BTW, what state are you in, and was it found on a particular battlefield site ?

We're in West Tennessee. From what I know, there were dozens of skirmishes in the area during the Civil War because of its proximity to a vital railroad. Records show that both Union and Confederate troops were active in the area for almost the entire war.

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Originally Posted by jnbbkwsk

We're in West Tennessee. From what I know, there were dozens of skirmishes in the area during the Civil War because of its proximity to a vital railroad. Records show that both Union and Confederate troops were active in the area for almost the entire war.

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Where bouts in West TN? I'm in Bells currently, near Jackson, TN. Grew up in Brownsville, though. But yeah, lots of potential places it could have been found in this region, as there was a lot of activity during that time, like you mentioned.

I can see it now... hundreds of straight razor collectors scanning the ground with metal detectors all over the world.

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Originally Posted by TwistedOak

I can see it now... hundreds of straight razor collectors scanning the ground with metal detectors all over the world.

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Metal detectors are illegal here. :(

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Originally Posted by Lemur

Metal detectors are illegal here. :(

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Why? The blades of old would never survive being buried in any type of soil being of 100% carbon steel for more than a few weeks without major damage, still awaiting pics from the O.P.

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Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Why? The blades of old would never survive being buried in any type of soil being of 100% carbon steel for more than a few weeks without major damage, still awaiting pics from the O.P.

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This island is littered with gold and silver treasures from the viking age, that's why!
A farmer here once found a wooden box with tools in it, a little rusty but he brushed them off and used them... until they found that they where from around year 900.
Some of them are still in a remarkable good shape.

Attachment 126964

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Originally Posted by Lemur

Metal detectors are illegal here. :(

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not a night .. ;)
if i can stop buying razors my next purchase is gonna be a good detector ... there strict around here unless you can get on some private property ..


as far as the post goes i cant wait to see this razor .. it is a great story !!

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Originally Posted by gooser

not a night .. ;)
if i can stop buying razors my next purchase is gonna be a good detector ... there strict around here unless you can get on some private property ..


as far as the post goes i cant wait to see this razor .. it is a great story !!

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Well, you are right, by day the law will get you, at night the local farmers...