Thread: As though last month weren't bad enough. 1820's Rodgers 7-Day set

It's taken me a long time to find a 7-Day set at a price I wanted to pay.

Now I have, and what a thing it is.



The box is a bit ageworn -- enough so that I did a few minor repairs on it so the blades wouldn't move around or slip through the gap and touch the edge on the bottom. It's wood covered in decorative papier-mâché. It was probably quite lovely in its day, but the box is ready to retire now. At some point I'll make a new one. Interestingly, the interior velvet isn't in bad shape at all.



I was surprised how compact it all is. The handle is about 2/3rds of a regular razor, and the blades are a bit short as well. About 2.75". They're all in the 5/8 neighborhood, with handmade object variation. You can see where I replaced a missing wall of the box and one of the small flanges that separate the blades on the notch-end. I used pieces of popsicle sticks and woodglue.



Each blade has the spine etched with a day of the week. Of course the moment I got it in the house I stropped up the Wednesday razor and shaved with it -- I bought this through eBay from our very own Harvitz81. He's responsible for the restore and the honing and he did a fantastic job.



The scales are ivory (sadly cracked on the pile side, but such is the way of ivory), the wedge is a beefy chunk of lead so even while a bit short, the scales still balance the blade nicely.



The way the blades lock into the handle is really neat. They have a keyed end which presses into the partial brass tang. There's a piece of spring-steel on the bottom which holds them tight against a keyed tab on the top. The blades just 'snik!' right into place and then you just put a finger on the monkey tail and gently press down on the spine of the blade. The spring-steel bends just enough to detach the keyed tab and it slides out.



It took a bit of digging to sort out what's going on with the stamps here, but I think I've got it.

First, it might be useful to look at this. That's another 1820's Joseph Rodgers -- you can tell it's Joseph Rodgers because of the 'CUTLERS TO HIS MAJESTY' stamp. Rodgers received the royal warrant in 1822 and not long after became Joseph Rodgers & Sons, as Joseph died in 1821.

The coronation of George IV was in July of 1820. James Stodart and Michael Faraday published on alloys, including silver steel, in 1818 and then again in 1822.

So my best guess is that this set was made at some point after July 1820 and probably before 1822.

Interestingly, there's a remnant of marbled paper on the bottom of the box that's nearly identical to the marbled paper used in the bookbinding of the 1822 publication from the Royal Society, linked just above.

I'm just slightly happy with this set.

AWESOME!! I'm happy for you and envious as well.

Great snag!!

those are so neat. I have never seen those locking blades before. I always thought I would love a 7 day set that matched. but I now have a 7 day set that I rotate and I am very happy with it. I hope those blades bring you many years of hapiness! congrats

Originally Posted by sleekandsmooth

those are so neat. I have never seen those locking blades before. I always thought I would love a 7 day set that matched. but I now have a 7 day set that I rotate and I am very happy with it. I hope those blades bring you many years of hapiness! congrats

This matching 7-day set goes nicely with my rotating 50 day set.

Really lovely set. Nice that you can fairly date the set too. I hope you get a long lifetime of great shaves out of it, aside from enjoying the history and the beauty of it.

Great looking set! Enjoy it in good health!

That is a great set, congrats and enjoy!

Glad you like the set! They were actually in quite good shape to begin with and I kept the restoration to a minimum as razors of this age should not be messed with too much.

FYI, I used a 4" contact wheel on my grinder and some 3M scotch bright belts (medium and fine) to keep the lines smooth instead of using a buffer. They were lightly hit with some polishing rogues after. Enjoy!

AWESOME!! the razor and the box.

this is why I can't search ebay....I will start spending money, a 7 day set is what I really want right now. oh well

this is a beautiful set, and I love how the blades lock in.