Thread: GR stamped Wade & Butcher in ivory.

Originally Posted by bonitomio

I am yet to see a british made razor with the kings or queens stamp, but without the crown between the letters.
Do you have any pics of one of these?

Why, indeed I do!

This belongs to a friend of mine, I did some restoration work on it.



This is my other GR stamped Wade & Butcher, which I suspect is from the early part of George IV's reign.



And over in this thread, is a very interesting specimen: Slartibartfarst's Joseph Rodgers.

So, based on what I've seen, the razors with the crown between the letters are 'later'. In the case of the W&B in this thread, I think that just means 1825-1830.

According to Lummus, the practice of using sovereign marks began with George IV and ended with Victoria. I've not seen any post-Victorian sovereign stamps (I know that folks were arguing that the Rodgers in that linked thread was, but based on the blade shape I would be really surprised if it weren't just a reground 1820's razor -- all the other blade features are actively odd for post-1910). All of the crowns I've seen stamped from before George IV don't bear any initials, and I'm doubtful they mean the same thing.

However, I'm not really comfortable relying on a single source for that kind of information, and I'd love to have more data points, even if they are contradictory.

I've turned up two similar razors to this one I got.

The first is over in this thread.

It's clearly the same blade but with different stamps.

The second is over here, in the Ken Hawley collection. (The razor on the far left in the picture at the top of the page). Without seeing the stamps I can't make a positive ID, but tht one offhand looks identical to the one I've got (sans-hone wear).

Based on all this, I'm guessing that the Wade & Butcher in this thread was most likely made late in George's reign. Certainly later than the other GR stamped Wade & Butcher directly above.