A very unusual Birmingham razor

There's always some threads going around about the rarity of razors. This is one of those that I think I'll be lucky to ever see one of. I haven't really dug around yet, but haven't turned up anything on this one. Scales are select horn; you see this mottling on some of the older fancy ones but it is unusual still. The blade is absolutely designed the way it is; hone wear is minimal, the original finish is there, and the spine is tapered to match. I would guess it's part of the tapered razor craze of the 1830s-40s but don't have anything to back up the date yet. Part of the maker is worn off, but what I can read says "& Wallington's Invincible, New Street, Birmingham". A very cool piece to have.

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Thats interesting.what do you think the scales are made out of??

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Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Thats interesting.what do you think the scales are made out of??

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They're horn for sure. Excuse the quality, but here's a picture of an old French one from Jardella's book. I don't know what kind of horn it is though. A lot of cow horns have this kind of interesting mottling.

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Dude you always have the coolest gear. I have no idea how you find it all and how you know what it is once you've found it. It is seriously over the top. As with many in your collection, Amazing.

Very interesting razor for sure, so unusual.

A quick search, makes me want to think that this could be a "Hawkes & Wallington" from Birmingham, from Directory of 1849.

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The scales are flippin sweet!

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Originally Posted by Martin103

Very interesting razor for sure, so unusual.

A quick search, makes me want to think that this could be a "Hawkes & Wallington" from Birmingham, from Directory of 1849.

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Yes I think this is it. I had a feeling the first word was Hawkes but couldn't quite make it out, and the street matches. Thanks Martin!

I'm wondering about the 'tapered blades' ? I vaguely remember a thread about this from the past. Is it definite that there was a 'tapered blade craze' and that the blade was made this way ? No hone wear on the spine so it would seem so.

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I'm wondering about the 'tapered blades' ? I vaguely remember a thread about this from the past. Is it definite that there was a 'tapered blade craze' and that the blade was made this way ? No hone wear on the spine so it would seem so.

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Zak has a large collection of them. I have a few. Many with original finishes, and they are heavy grinds. Lummus talked about them a bit; I think they were mostly around 1840 ish. The ones that seem to float around the most are Marshes and Shepherd. Usually they're not as extreme as this one.

Here is Zak's thread: http://straightrazorpalace.com/show-...ed-blades.html

I'm surprised that type of horn, if from cow, has not appeared more often. It is amazing stuff, especially the PATENT side of the razor.....with the tapered blade shape, I have to de-program myself from seeing the abused modern razors on Ebay, the ones that would be good to add to your collection.

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Originally Posted by WW243

I have to de-program myself from seeing the abused modern razors on Ebay, the ones that would be good to add to your collection.

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That's part of the reason they go cheap! Well, now people are starting to catch on, so not so much anymore.

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I'm surprised that type of horn, if from cow, has not appeared more often

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I can't give a definite answer for this, only speculation until I find and comb through books on the horn trade. Could be a number of reasons. Could be that it was harder to find, trickier to work with, or that uniform color scales were just more in demand. Most of the old razors with black horn scales started life out as horn of various colors and mottling; it was chemically blackened.