Thread: anchor mark on this razor

someone a idea what/who the maker of this razor can be?
There is only a anchor on it.
See pics (sorry about the bad pictures)

Cannot say for sure. I have one similar blade. According to Manah ( he's an expert with these) it might be very old W&B.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/show-...oldtimers.html

Originally Posted by Sailor

Cannot say for sure. I have one similar blade. According to Manah ( he's an expert with these) it might be very old W&B.

The first thing that came to my mind was George Brittain but if manah says W&B, that is more than likely what it is.

Difficult to say, who it is.
If George Brittain, where is "GB" with Maltese Cross?
There's no place for this stamp on the tang.
Old W&B ...possibly, but I think, the anchor isn't like W&B.

P.S. More I learn, more doubts. It's fact.

Looks to me like a GB that has been seriously used and possible reground or altered around the shoulder.

Old w&b ?? I have seen stamps with a anchor but usually runs a rope around the anchor , Never a anchor only . or am i wrong ?

There is heavy pitting on the tang (on both sides) mayby under that pitting there was more stamps. I'm just saying something, you never know.

You're right. W&B is with a rope around the anchor.

It's not a Wade & Butcher mark.

The razor does look seriously abused - the tail looks modified and it looks like it has been re-ground (badly) and cut down in width. Even so, given the position of the anchor right by the tail, there isn't much room for the maltese cross and GB.

It is known that the anchor was not the only mark belonging to George Brittain - the GB and maltese cross appear independently of the anchor.

A little background might help. George Brittain appears as a partner in Brittain, Wilkinson & Brownell, started in Sycamore Street c1774. Before that he was a master cutler (1773). In 1776 Peter Brownell was apprenticed to him. After George Brittain's death (1812) his son Verdon Brittain run the firm with the assistance of Bernard Brittain. The Brittain family was large, including cutlers, steel converters, saw and edge tool makers and razor makers. When Verdon Brittain retired in 1843, the families involved in the firm of B, W & B went their own ways. The Brittain family continued in knife, edge tool and steel making, the Brownells continued as cutlers - and the GB mark and the maltese cross went with them. The Brownells traded until 1861, when they were bought out by Stacey, Pease & Co, who also acquired the GB and maltese cross marks.

In the 1850s a mechant called Edward Gem run a hardware business in Birmingham, but teamed up with two gents called Moilliet to form Moilliet & Gem to open a sheffield office. The partnership didn't last long, being dissolved in 1858, but Edward Gem, now styling himself as 'successor to Moilliet & Gem' now had a foot-hold in Sheffield and was manufacturing cutlery and knives, particularly Bowie-style knives. At some point after 1861 he acquired the marks of Stacey, Pease & Co including the GB mark and maltese cross.

In 1890 Edward Gems business was sold to Alfred Field of Alfred Field & Co, who had been in the hardware business in Birmingham in 1836, had gone to America and opened up in New York, returned to Birmingham in 1854 and opened a Sheffield outlet in 1876. Although Alfred died in 1884 - 6 years before his company bought the business of Edward Gem & Co - his business continued with his son Harry and did not cease trading until 1933.

So, the GB and the maltese cross were split from the anchor. In order for that to happen, they must have been registered with the cutlery guild separately - you can't just 'split' a single mark into two! It isn't unreasonable to suppose that the Brittain family kept the anchor mark, and that some razors have a lone anchor and some just a GB mark and maltese cross and some both.

Regards,
Neil