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No. The imprint side was supposed to be the honing side, as the strop would have been on the back side.

Ownership of the company changed hands in 1950 when the equipment and supplies were shipped cross country to Moravia, Iowa. An employee from Olean spent 4 months training a young new high school...

That is NOT an option.

:rant:

These probably all were made in the American Hone Company in Moravia, Iowa. I was not certain of the Cushioned Strop Back Hones but the Lithides certainly were. Given that she had so many of them...

I would appreciate it if someone could provide me with a link to the seller. If it were 10 years ago and it was a woman selling barber hones from Iowa I would say it was Tilly.

If he had a box of them then that dramatically increases the likelihood that they are in fact NOS.

I did not see them for sale. I've been avoiding ebay. :w

They were meant to be a transitional hone. The flat side could hone a straight razor and the concave side was for honing safety razors. The older DE blades could be honed and stropped to greatly...

OK, that's what I suspected.

I'll tell you what, use those hones for 10 years and see if they look any different than they do today!

Quiz time...

Do you know the purpose of the smaller hones being flat on one side and concave on the other?

What leads you to believe that they are unused?

You can gently use a green scotch-brite pad with a bit of soap and water if you feel the need. Though if they appear to be NOS then I'd suggest that you instead just rinse them with water to remove...