Know anything about where it came from? There are a goodly number of people named William Allen in the 1810-1860 range, all of whom could have had a razor made for them.
Wikipedia's list of William Allens
The laurel wreath at the bottom tells me it was someone who either was important or who wanted to be. I'd put money on the etch being a depiction of 'Wm Allen'.
I'm pretty sure you're right, that definitely looks like 'WEIRD STEEL' to me. :)