Thread: A Wade & Butcher, Colonial Revival style

This thing caused me some serious annoyance.

There were two of them up on eBay. One in better shape, the other with a lower starting bid.

I really wanted the razor. Like, wanted a LOT. Enough to bid far higher than I normally do.

So I watched the two auctions like a hawk. As it came down to the wire, my choice appeared to be: pass on this one and go all-in on the better quality one, or bid high on this one and miss the better quality one.

I ended up getting both, but this is the only one that's arrived so far.

So! Unless I'm mistaken, what we have here is a Wade & Butcher razor made for the Amercian market in the Colonial Revival style -- a popular arts movement after the Worlds Fair held in Pennsylvania, 1876. I'd guess probably 1880-ish (which makes this one of the wee little babies in my collection). The blade is pretty clearly meant to evoke the late 1700's style razors while having all the modern conveniences, like good jimps and a blade that won't cut your thumb off when you use it because the edge goes all the way to the pivot.



The blade reads 'The Celebrated Old Army Razor 1776'.

This one has been personalized:



'R. Wilson, Danville Ohio'. The engraving is really very lovely. The tail of the 'R' curls in to a microscopic swirl. When I shake loose a little time for research I'll try to find information about this R. Wilson, but at the moment I've got a writing deadline breathing down my neck and hours spent researching really need to be for the story I'm writing and not my razor collection.

The blade tapers a fair bit, being widest at the toe, somewhere in the vicinity of 13/16. It's not a huge razor, though it is relatively heavy and not very hollow.

This reminds me a lot of the modern cars designed to look both old-fashioned and modern; PT Cruisers, Mini Coopers, New Beetles, that kind of thing. I've always thought it was an interesting design goal, so when I saw these razors... Well. Yeah.