Thread: can anyone help me with a bit of history?

Hello to you all. I am pretty recent to the straight razor world and i am enjoying learning. What set me off was a find by my wife some years ago after the passing of her great aunt, a kropp 5/6 ground in hamburgs sheffield steel razor. I am currently stationed in germany where it seems the old ways are very much the preferred ways, which encouraged me to make a start. So far i have found nothing on a 5/6 kropp, can anyone help with any information?
Many thanks
jonny

Hi Jonny.

I can't believe that you haven't found any info on your razor on the web!

'Kropp' was a brand name used by the british company of Osborne, Garrett & Co. They had branches in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Sheffield and also made Ogee, Osgar, Elmo and Carrera straight razors, strops, strop pastes, combs, etc.

Early razors were made in Sheffield but sent to Germany for grinding (although there were exceptions) and later ones were both forged and ground in Sheffield.

Charlie Myers was their maker towards the end of the compnies life, when its name had already changed to Kropp Manufacturing Co. Charlie had his own razor company - C. Myers & Sons at Athol Road and at some point he acquired the Kropp company and operated both from the same address.

Kropp made excellent razors, which deserve more recognition.

Regards,
Neil

PS: the width of straight razor blades is commonly expressed in 1/8ths of an inch (less commonly 1/16ths of an inch), so and 8/8 blade would be one inch wide. The most common width is 5/8ths of an inch, and I think that is what yours must be, not 5/6.

Hi neil.
First of all i would like to say thank you for all that information, it is more than i have been able to find. Most of what i found was sketchy at best ( it would seem i have been looking in all the wrong places ha ha) do you know if kropp still make razors or use a different company name? I am unsure of the rough age of my razor as no one knows how long it was sat in the old drawers before we found it, but everything there was very antique ( incuding the dresser it was found in).
The sizing of the blade is what intrigues me most of all as on my welcome post i asked the same question and was given a similar answer to yours by another member. The reason i still ask is that i also have the box also which labels the razor as 'our celebrated 5/6 magnetised razor set ready for use' made in england ground in hamburg. Please see picture. And when i shown this the other person suggested a post here may shed some light.
I thank you for your reply
jonny

Hi Jonny,

Well, having seen the box I don't think it is original to the razor. To the best of my knowledge Kropp always had the name on the box, and they never made a 'magnetised' razor. As far as the '5/6' goes, I suggest that was the price - five shillings and sixpence. The other member is either too young to remember old coinage, not from the UK or not familiar with razor sizing, I reckon!

The Athol Road address was used into the 1970s, I believe, no longer. Decimalisation in the UK was in february 1971 - after that anything except old stock would have the new price on it. Each shilling (twelve old pennies) was replaced with 5 new pence, so your razor would have cost 27 and a half new pence. Average earnings for a 40 hour week have been calculated at around £28 per week by one source, so to me that would make the razor older than this - perhaps late 1950s, early 1960s.

Regards,
Neil

Yes I think Neil's spot on that's the price pre decimalization, which sadly enough I'm old enough to remember 5 shillings and sixpence or as we said back in the day five bob and a tanner.

Jamie

Well gentlemen, i cant thank you enough answered a lot of questions there. The information given has been more than i could have hoped for. As for the box i would be lying if i said i wasnt a little disapointed that its not the original, but its one of those things i guess. Thank you so much guys, being very new to this game i am very interested in learning as much as i can.
Once again thank you
kind regards
jonny

No problem Jonny!

I may have an original Kropp box somewhere - just a question of finding it. If you want it PM me and let me have your address.

Regards,
Neil

Hi neil.
You are certainly some kind of guru. Thank you i would love to have an original box if it isnt too much trouble. Let me know of costs etc. Will pm the address. You are a legend, thanks again
jonny

just realised i havent got a clue how to pm on here :s

If you click your mouse over Neil's name you will see send a PM come up.

Jamie.

Jonny - no cost, its a gift. Besides, its only an old box!

Regards,
Neil