Thread: Unusual Joseph Elliot. Anyone seen one like it?

Very interesting and cool blade profile. I don't recall ever seeing it before, unless Matt previously posted his. One way or the other, I had forgotten seeing it if he did. I wonder when I see interesting departures from the norm, on the old Sheffields, if they were pushing the envelope, trying to come up with a more efficient or ergonomic design, or whether they were hoping something unique and different would sell more razors ?

Soo... I am interested! What does the vr or wr stand for?

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Very interesting and cool blade profile. I don't recall ever seeing it before, unless Matt previously posted his. One way or the other, I had forgotten seeing it if he did. I wonder when I see interesting departures from the norm, on the old Sheffields, if they were pushing the envelope, trying to come up with a more efficient or ergonomic design, or whether they were hoping something unique and different would sell more razors ?

That's a thing I've long wondered about. It had always seemed to me like the radical variation in styles started around 1820, but I've found earlier documentation showing blade designs from 1816, and pretty much every oddball shape was already present. That said, I love me some oddball razor designs!

Originally Posted by robert2286

Soo... I am interested! What does the vr or wr stand for?

As it happens, I've written up a big thing about that over here.

Wow! Thanks! Great info

Came across one couples weeks ago. Almost looks like a motorcycle. Think its carbon steel.

Think it means vulx or vulfix ripper. (VR)

Originally Posted by robert2286

Soo... I am interested! What does the vr or wr stand for?

Voidmonster is right as his article says. W R is for William Rex or King William IV & the V R is for Victoria Regina or Queen Victoria

I think William IV's cipher would have been GR for Gulielmus Rex, the latinized form of William. He was so named on coinage of the period. Also, don't those scales look like celluloid? If they are cell, and aren't later rescales, then the date of the razor is well after the reign of William IV which ended in 1837.

Originally Posted by Maladroit

I think William IV's cipher would have been GR for Gulielmus Rex, the latinized form of William. He was so named on coinage of the period. Also, don't those scales look like celluloid? If they are cell, and aren't later rescales, then the date of the razor is well after the reign of William IV which ended in 1837.

Absolutely not. WR is William, GR would have been George. That's the recognised convention, in every history book in the UK - and elsewhere, I should imagine, for hundreds of years the 'modern' usage is from early Tudor times (around 1485) - pre-dating even Voidmonster! Period.

As for the scales, the ones in the original post are not original, and the ones in the second pic are horn, so we can't use 'celluloid' as a means of dating, whereas we can definitely use the royal cypher.

Regards,
Neil

Looks like you're right Neil; examples are hard to come by on the web but I'm satisfied WR is correct.