Originally Posted by
Voidmonster
What usually happened is just that the stamps got worn with use, so letters became less distinct over time, or in that case, it looks like it was struck a little too deeply. If you ground about 1/10mm off the surface, the letter would be clearer (I don't recommend doing that though!)
The first letter looks really an awful lot like an M or an H and there aren't any directory listings for an M* or H* Birks.
Now there was a famous Henry Birks, jeweler from Montreal, but the timeframe is wrong for him to have commissioned razors (he was working in the 1860's), and his father's name was Richard. So that's a dead-end. An end that wasn't really ever even alive.
However the apprentice registers show that John Birks apprenticed one Henry Birks (son of Richard -- John's brother?). Henry was freed in 1795, which has him working in a likely time-frame.
There were two other Henrys apprenticed. The first was freed in 1720, meaning he would have caught a nasty case of dead by the time your razor was made and the other never completed his apprenticeship (which began in 1804, to Jonathan Shackerley, a knife maker).
In the apprentice rolls, there are no M* Birks.
So, my best guess is Henry Birks, around 1810.