Thread: Revolutionary War Razor?

I respectfully disagree. Horn has layers to some degree. This has none. Perhaps tortoise. I have several old tortoise scaled razors an have yet to see a nearly clear one. Did they not cast anything back then? These look to be cast.

You are correct Voidmonster. They are tortoise. After cleaning a little more I can see some pigmentation in the scales. I still have no info about when they were made or for what purpose. Maybe commemorative.

although i have no info . i did enjoy seeing such a fine razor and its scales !!

Originally Posted by 25609289

I respectfully disagree. Horn has layers to some degree. This has none. Perhaps tortoise. I have several old tortoise scaled razors an have yet to see a nearly clear one. Did they not cast anything back then? These look to be cast.

You are correct Voidmonster. They are tortoise. After cleaning a little more I can see some pigmentation in the scales. I still have no info about when they were made or for what purpose. Maybe commemorative.

These are pressed horn, from around the same time. While this set is black, you can see that they're also very thin. About the same thickness as good ivory scales.

When it's been well preserved or restored, translucent horn can look quite remarkable.


(a razor that went through eBay, and sadly not to me)

It can also take on a very orange color from rust, especially in older blades. That can look somewhat like tortoise shell, as well as natural color variations in the horn.



As for the age of the razor, I agree with Walt and Martin. Most likely 1810-1825. I've seen several others with the revolutionary war motif. It was marketing, for the most part. Patriotic items sold well, so French and English cutlers made them. At the end of the war of 1812, some Sheffield cutlers were selling patriotic razors to America while the treaty ink was still drying.

The pressed horn and shell scales are interesting because they're rarely ever found (originally) on 'name brand' razors. I've seen far fewer French razors in them, so I don't really know the pattern there, but English razors tend very strongly to be either generic (WARRANTED, CAST STEEL, PATENT) or marked for a merchant (which is what I suspect TAYLOR's X.Q.SITE razors were).

There are a few counter-examples. Greaves & Sons had their simple 'SHEAF WORKS' pressed scales:


John Barber made a fancy razor for Barbers with very elaborate pressed horn scales in the late 1820's:


(images from an online auction, these are not my pictures)

The front says "PARTICULARLY MADE FOR BARBERS" and the back claims the Masonic square & compass as his mark, surrounded by eagles holding arrows.

There were similar Wade & Butcher as well as a few others, but all of these are A) black horn and B) advertisements for the cutler first and foremost.

As far as I know, only Joseph Elliot made razors in scales that were purely patriotic.



Aside from that one, I also have one with NEW YORK scales, and the pile side says 'INDEPENDENCE' (I haven't gotten pictures of that one yet, sorry), plus I've seen one stamped BOSTON.

But all of these are fairly different from the early 1800's fad of figural scales, most all of which were fixed to generic blades.

I don't really know why that is, but my guess is that they were made primarily as an advertisement for the scale hafters who made them, and thus intended more for the attention of cutlers than shavers.

I'm pretty hard headed, but I think you are correct. I had never seen pressed scales this thin, but I have examined them more and I think they probably are pressed horn. I am going to try to resurect the razor. It has cleaned up nicely. The scales are going to require several much more attention, but I am going to try. Thank you for the help.

You're welcome.

Originally Posted by 25609289

Thank you for the help.