Thread: Hohenzollern vintage hone

I picked this up at an antique shop. I thought my HAD was in check, then this shows up. No slurry stone (bummer), but I believe this is a vintage Thuringian polishing stone. The underside of the stone has two similarities to vintage Eschers: 1) the underside is left in it's original uncut or rough cut state. 2) The roughest angled corner shows remnants of a paper label affixed to the stone itself.

I see the Hohenzollerns were/are of royal German descent. Did they sell the marketing rights of their name to a hone manufacturer? I lapped it on my Shapton GDLP to .5 microns flat. A very smooth stone. I look forward to trying it out.

It's 1/16th" shy of 5" long, 3/4" thick and 2" wide.









Chris L

thats very nice!!!!

This is a gem. Some time ago a hone with a similar label stuck to the stone that had a signature of Droescher on it was sold on ebay for a high price, IIRC an SRP member picked it up.

Looks like it is a large size Thuringian.

Wow !!

What a fantastic find... Im jealous

Greg Frazer

I decided to sell it on the Bay, but so far, not many people are watching it.

Chris L

When you lapped the hone did it leave a blue chalk/powder?
If so then it is a Thuringer/Escher type of hone.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

When you lapped the hone did it leave a blue chalk/powder?
If so then it is a Thuringer/Escher type of hone.

Hi Randy:

Do you mean what color was the slurry sloughed off the stone during the actual lapping process or do you mean what color was any residual powder left on the surface of the lapped stone after the stone dried?

If you mean slurry, it was a lighter milky blue.

Chris L

Originally Posted by Chrisl

Hi Randy:

Do you mean what color was the slurry sloughed off the stone during the actual lapping process or do you mean what color was any residual powder left on the surface of the lapped stone after the stone dried?

If you mean slurry, it was a lighter milky blue.

Chris L

I meant the powder that was left after you lapped the hone. I lapmost of the coticules and thuringers dry on sandpaper and it leaves a light blue powder. It also laps very easily.

In any event, it sounds like a thuringer/escher type of hone.

I won this hone on ebay, tried it tonight and it is AWESOME. Chris lapped it very smooth and it did an awesome job on my 5/8 Herder. It is at least as good as my Y/G Escher. As I expected it is a vintage Thueringer.

Thanks again Chris, just couldn't stop myself letting you all know.

I'm glad it performs well for you Kees. I liked its performance as well although I only polished a few razors on it. It's lapped to a claimed .5 micron via the Shapton Glass Diamond Lapping Plate so you should be good to go for some time to come.

I'm also glad to hear that it performs as good as your Yellow Green Escher. For all of you that are ga-ga over wanting to get a vintage yellow green or Escher in general.......I would argue that this Hohenzollern I sold to Kees is MORE RARE and IMO then MORE VALUABLE than the Eschers. I'm ready to debate this assertion with anyone.

I saw an identical stone (no wooden box but the exact same paper label on the stone instead of inside the box like this one) go on Ebay within the last few days for just over $100. Kees and the buyer of this other stone got great deals.

Vintage stones are so cool.

Attention all SRP members:.......when you're out at the antique stores....look and ask for STONES while most of you are probably just keeping your eyes peeled for razors. Don't ask for razor stones, hones, etc because few people know what they look like I always ask for "sharpening stones" or "tool sharpening stones" You'll be surprised what kind of finds you come across. I'd love to see more found vintage stones on BST for sale.

Chris L