Thread: An oddball Sheffield Threesome.

Lately, when I get links in email from ScienceGuy, it ends up with my money growing wings and flying away.

This time it flew a little further than usual -- and let me tell you, doing business with Sheffield from California, especially when you need to be able to contact people at the beginning of the work day, is exhausting.

But worth it, in this case.



First of all, I'll tell you about the fine chaps who owned these razors.



Samuel Sims was born in 1816 and seems to have inherited his father's farm, Lady Hole Farm. The farm is also still in operation, and appears to be quite prosperous. It's in Yeldersley, a bit west of Duffield.


William Dagley owned the Rose & Crown tavern in Penistone, about 45 minutes north of Sheffield.



The tavern still exists, much as it did in the early part of the 19th century (some of the hits I'm finding suggest it closed down and became offices) Dagley owned the inn as far back as 1814. There were two men, father and son, with the same name. One born in the 1750's, the other in 1790. Presumably, the tavern was owned by the father. There's no way to know if the razors belonged to father or son.



All three blades are elaborately etched. The odd-man out was made by James Crawshaw in the mid 1820's, the pair were made by William Chapman in the late 1840's or early 1850's.

The Crawshaw blade is etched with 'Real Damascus'.

One of the two Chapman blades is illegible, but the other is a scene inside a smithy with a blacksmith hammering out shoes for a patiently waiting horse, and in the upper left, in script letters is 'Duffield' (which is how I found the right Samuel Sims).



Chapman was truly a lesser known manufacturer. His first directory listing was in 1851 and he died in 1889. Toward the end of his life he was listed as a razor setter or hafter, so the elaborate scales in these seem to have been a specialty of his (though many Sheffield cutlers used fairly similar scales).



James Crawshaw was a big deal in this time. Apart from serving as Master Cutler in 1828 (an honor George Wostenholm had to be pestered into accepting), he also partnered with Thomas Champion, son of David Champion.

Crawshaw invented a few types of knives, most famously the Lobster Knife. He made fine cutlery and silverware and even fancy orreries. He died in 1838 and was lauded as one of the most important cutlers of his generation.

I can vouch for the quality of his razors. Of the two I have, both have extraordinary fit & finish even 180 years later. Unusually, the ivory these scales are made from is almost double the thickness of most old razors I find (and about half the thickness of the thinner old horn scales). The effect is that the scales feel very durable, even with the carving. And check out those jimps!

And there you have it. A pair of razors from Lady Hole Farm and a single razor from Penistone.
(The emphasis is on the FIRST syllable!)

After years of collecting, the number of razors I've gotten with verifiable owners is tiny, and here land three all at once.

Thanks once again, ScienceGuy!

You gotta be kiddin me
That is hilarious!
Awesome razors and stories though.
Mike

Originally Posted by Mcbladescar

You gotta be kiddin me
That is hilarious!
Awesome razors and stories though.
Mike

Just because I'm not joking doesn't mean I'm not laughing!

But really. Lady Hole Farm. Penistone.

And I could link to a very NSFW music video by a Brit having fun with the name Penistone, so I am unrepentant at finding it funny.

Very Nice!

Hah! I only just noticed that the picture Wikipedia uses for Penistone includes the Rose & Crown tavern!

beautiful razors indeed

Great find in such condition!

Originally Posted by Snuff

Great find in such condition!

The Crawshaw razor had blood on it. Very old blood. A few splatters and a fingerprint!

I cleaned that off, though it stained the scales slightly.

With both of the Chapman razors, someone had practiced their scrimshaw technique on the pile side scale. Maybe they just wanted to re-ink the facing side and tested on the back to make sure it worked. (It didn't -- the trick to making ink stay in scrimshaw is beeswax).

How about some closeup detail shots?

Bear in mind, these have monstrous distortion because I shot them through a clip-on jewelers magnifier held in front of the lens on my phone's camera. The blade does not really have a frown on top and the bottom.



(I did a preliminary re-inking of the scrimshaw, but I need to go in with the loupe and clean up some wear scratches which are catching a bit of the ink)



Detail of the scale carving.





The etching is easier to see here, but still not awesome. You can just make out that the artist clearly was familiar with horses, but not people.

It is treasures like these that keep me coming back to SRP, well, these and what to do when your razor won't shave.