Another "date this Wade and Butcher" thread

[Maladroit]

Jonah, in my opinion, the etching looks a lot like the shield from the royal arms of Great Britain i.e. the UK. In the left bottom quarter you can just make out the Irish harp and the top left and bottom right quarters bear the 3 lions of England. I'm willing to bet that the top right quarter has the lion rampant of Scotland. So, what does this mean - that it was made for the royal family? Not a chance, it's just a manufacturer claiming the royal warrant. USAans may not be familiar with the words "by appointment to his (her) majesty" and other variants such as the "Prince of Wales" etc. Us Aussies and Canadians will all have seen this on anything from biscuit tins to hair brushes. i would not be at all surprised if an old and respected firm like W&B didn't score at least one royal warrant in their long history. You could try researching to find when the right to use the royal arms was granted to the company - that could give the earliest date the razor could have been made.