Thread: Living up to my byline: a razor by Samuel Creswick

Samuel Creswick was born February 24 in either 1681 or 1682 to Godfrey Creswick and Elizabeth Sampson. As a young teen, he was indentured to his uncle Thomas Creswick and freed in 1702, even though his father was also a cutler.



The annotation on that says that in 1756 the mark was removed from circulation “not to be let again”). It did pass to his son, and his son’s son, but his grandson’s mark had the pipe reversed. Unlike Sketchley’s or Gales & Martin, I trust the printing of the mark in the Cutler’s Company’s book of marks to be accurate!

This is a seriously odd razor. It’s odd enough that I feel fairly confident saying it was made a lot closer to 1702 than 1752.



For starters, the maker’s mark is mid-blade, much like the oldest razors I’ve seen. Well, at least the oldest ones I’ve seen that have makers marks on them.

For a follow up, it has a defined tang!



That divot is slightly bent, so it’s damage, not from having been ground flat.

That said, this is in remarkable condition for a razor of its age. There is comparatively very, very little hone wear.

The scales are aaaaancient bone. Almost certainly original.

And then there’s this tail.



I’ve never seen anything quite like that, even the ones ScienceGuy has with the weird, super-long tail. That said, this one is surprisingly comfortable in a standard shaving position (and you can very well bet I’m going to be honing this one!).

Another odd feature is that the spine has a ridge down it.



You can see it there — I was hoping for a maker’s name, but I feel relatively confident this was Samuel (1681) and not his son, Samuel (1716). You can also see what Fikira calls the ‘dip-at-toe’, as well as it’s brother-feature, the dip to the pivot.

The Creswick clan were everywhere in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s but fall completely out of the Cutler’s Company’s records by 1800. There are no Creswick indentures or freedoms later than 1799 and there are precious few listed in the trade directories working in cutlery. It’s a bit mysterious!

What isn’t mysterious is that this is a very, very old Sheffield razor. Quite likely the oldest I have seen. The design features make me pretty certain of that, especially that mid-blade stamp.

I am very excited by the prospect of shaving with it!

Also noteworthy, his great-grandson, Thomas Creswick, was a famous and prolific painter.

I thought that a defined tang was indicative of a later razor? Like around 1800+ Is this correct or is this not as definitive as people think Zak?

Originally Posted by Steel

I thought that a defined tang was indicative of a later razor? Like around 1800+ Is this correct or is this not as definitive as people think Zak?

That seems to hold true for razors from 1740(ish) to about 1800, but thus far there haven't been enough older ones to say much about them. So, this is a new and exciting data point.

The defined tang on this one is absolutely NOT the product of the razor being modified later. The bottom of the tang is thicker than the blade and it otherwise fits the outline shape of most 1700's razors.

Simply amazing.

WOW!!!!! Look forward to your shave report Zak.
How awesome it must be to hold a razor like that, so much history

Amazing razor!

Originally Posted by Dieseld

WOW!!!!! Look forward to your shave report Zak.
How awesome it must be to hold a razor like that, so much history

When Samuel Creswick was a boy, there was no Great Britain. The Salem Witch trials hadn't happened. There was no neat separation between chemistry and alchemy! In fact, this razor was likely made before alchemy and chemistry parted ways!

It took a long time to get to me as it came from one of those sellers who seems to sell a lot of goods and then heads to the post office twice a month (probably someone very rural and elderly, I'm not complaining about it since the listing made clear I'd been waiting two weeks before it shipped), and during that time I had another thing I'd bought stolen from the box by someone at USPS. Literally, the box had been opened, the article removed, then the box was taped shut. There was no damage to the box, just marks inside it where the thing I'd gotten had rubbed against the cardboard.

So I've been on pins & needles waiting for this thing!

I always appreciate your history lessons, Zak! If guys like you could team up to do an elective course on straight razors throughout history through a community college, I would audit it in a second (well, online anyways since you're in Cali).

Fascinating!
And now, knowing it was you who outbid me on this one, I sincerely feel much better I was worried it went to some father's day shadow box display