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Hi there i just picked this one up from a local junk/vintage shop for £12 ! I have three other razors in my collection and this is by far the thickest stock heaviest one i own .
Its in great shape ( hair popping out the box ! ) just a little rust on the spine .
handle seems nice no wiggle .
Id love to find out more about the history etc if any one knows or owns one ??
hope you like !
Cheers .
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Very nice score! Unfortunately I can't find any info in my references. You'll run across some info when you least expect it!
I have a set of four in ivory that I am in mid cleanup on. I have sharpened one and shaved with it, and it was a very nice shave. All I could find out is that they are best known for their silver work. I have found not a lot of information. It seems that the lack of England on the razor and simply Sheffield would put them as being either very specifically for the domestic market or manufactured before 1889-ish. Mine are nor etched very hollow ground, but otherwise the blades are very similar. There does not seem to be that many around and I have a sneaking hunch that they were probably special production items. Apparently Walker and Hall made a lot of silver product, so they are likely very high end, but I'm just guessing. I'm sure the historians will be along soon enough to set me straight on this straight.
That's a very nice find as well. I hope you find out more info on them. Congrats on the good luck!
Walker & Hall were a huge manufacturer, mostly in the early 20th century. Tweedale's entry on the company covers almost 4 full pages. Far too much to even summarize!
The company goes back a good ways, but it was built on Walker's electroplating -- which he learned in Birmingham. Hall was a grocer, and the two of them partnered up. The flag mark with W&H on it was registered in 1863, but by 1900 both Walker and Hall were dead and the company was in the hands of John Bingham.
They may have been a huge company in the 1890's (when the razor was most likely made), but they weren't so large and so successful that Bingham didn't feel the need to lie to puff them up even bigger. He famously claimed that Walker had invented the electroplating process, that they employed 2000 hands (technically not a lie, they had a thousand employees), and that he was brokering an international peace treaty, all while forming a task force to smash trade unions.
But they made their own cutlery, and it was reputedly (by people other than John Bingham) top quality.
Their business was primarily silver plating though. So not top-end goods, but medium-end goods. Bingham even had an interesting scheme to sell involving customers getting 'wholesale' prices by being 'approved buyers'. It was a real discount -- about 10% off other retailers -- but it wasn't the 50% off Bingham claimed, and it was still enough to displease the other folks who sold Walker & Hall goods.
Hey thanks so much the reply . I love hearing the history ! It certainly feels like a quality blade , i am gong to restore it very carefully and put it to good use .
I'm really looking forward to trying it out .
Interesting feature I've noticed is the spine is facetted rather than round . Surface rust looks like it will clean up nice !
I will put up some pics after i clean it up .
