1830's Edward Allison with fancy bone scales.

http://theshiveringbeggar.com/wp-con...1/IMG_7928.jpg

Thanks to this thread, I now know that I've got a museum-quality specimen here. In fact this one is in better condition than the one in the Artemas Ward collection. The main difference is that I have a better clue about its age than the folks looking after the collection, and mine is missing less of the original ornamentation.

http://theshiveringbeggar.com/wp-con...1/IMG_7929.jpg

The W(crown)R makes the date unequivocal. This razor, was made after 1830. The one in the museum probably not much before that.

http://theshiveringbeggar.com/wp-con...1/IMG_7930.jpg

The scales are slightly cracked, and there's a small piece missing on the pile side above the pivot.

http://theshiveringbeggar.com/wp-con...1/IMG_7931.jpg

Very few of the original pique work pins are missing. (8 are missing of probably 150 -- I only counted what was gone). The pins come in two sizes, roughly 0.3mm and 0.5mm, then there are the two larger shields (one of which is missing) and the long plate.

The blade has a hollow point and an unusual scalloped tang, not to mention that neat swaged spine (a feature I have a particular weakness for).

Edward Allison, Knife Grinder (and most likely maker of this razor), served 7 years of apprenticeship to Charles Milnes and was freed 1813. He was the son of Edward Allison, cutler and grinder who was apprenticed to his father, Edward Allison, horsecroft and husbandman who had also served an apprenticeship to a cutler (Thomas Osgathorpe).

Beautiful...

Love the ornamentation! Are you going to shave with it?

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Originally Posted by mrv

Love the ornamentation! Are you going to shave with it?

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Absolutely! I'll probably get impatient and hone it before I fix the scales though. If at all possible I'm going to replace the missing pins in the design as well as the larger 'button-like' shield.

Wow love that! Those jimps are veritably industrial :)

Jimptastic

Did you ever finish the restoration on this one?

Is it the one that was listed on ebay.co.uk ?

Regards

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Originally Posted by tedh75

Did you ever finish the restoration on this one?

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I honed it, but have otherwise done nothing else. It's a favorite shaver despite the toll of ages!

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Originally Posted by charlie48horlogerie

Is it the one that was listed on ebay.co.uk ?

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Hmm. Do you have a link to that? I don't think it was. I did get an Allison from eBay recently, but it was this one.

http://theshiveringbeggar.com/wp-con...07272cc612.jpg

http://theshiveringbeggar.com/wp-con...e2f394038c.jpg

http://theshiveringbeggar.com/wp-con...2f00c8cd6a.jpg

The spine is etched 'Warranted To Shave Well'.

And since posting here, I've dug up more information about Allison over here, on my blog.

Interesting. I love stuff like that. I really enjoyed your article on William Greaves and Sons. Very informative.
I was wondering if you knew anything about he maker of this razor? I have found precious little myself. The "Y" looks familiar and is that a crown next to it or more "Y's". Also can't make out the symbol opposite the "Y". Do you think it is contemporary to the first Allison you posted?

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Originally Posted by tedh75

Interesting. I love stuff like that. I really enjoyed your article on William Greaves and Sons. Very informative.
I was wondering if you knew anything about he maker of this razor? I have found precious little myself. The "Y" looks familiar and is that a crown next to it or more "Y's". Also can't make out the symbol opposite the "Y". Do you think it is contemporary to the first Allison you posted?

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That's a tough one! The part at the top looks like the cutler's corporate mark, which appears to be Y <something> Cross symbol.

The name looks to me like R. HI????D'S. Thankfully, that's all I need to find him!

R. H. Hilliard working at 9 Meadowstreet and listed in Gell's 1825 Sheffield Directory -- his sole listing.

He doesn't turn up in the apprentice registers either, so he didn't go through the traditional training, or at least not in Sheffield. Chances are he was a businessman of some sort and he tried his hand at selling fancy razors.

The SINGLE Gell's listing suggests he wasn't in business for long, but that razor definitely looks more 1830's than 1820's. There was obviously some blending between the styles, but I can't think of ever seeing a tang of that shape from George IV's run.

Zac if you ever publish a book on razors, or perhaps a collection of books, count me in. Your razors are amazing and your knowledge astounding. I love reading your blog.

Thanks for looking! I was thinking it was R. Hibbard which I did find 1 reference to in a thread on this site. I have a pm out to the owner of that razor but haven't heard back yet. Hilliard is just as likely I suppose with the middle of the name being obscured. I quite like this razor even with the cracks in the scale but it is very pricey for me; especially with so little known about the maker.

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Originally Posted by tedh75

Thanks for looking! I was thinking it was R. Hibbard which I did find 1 reference to in a thread on this site. I have a pm out to the owner of that razor but haven't heard back yet. Hilliard is just as likely I suppose with the middle of the name being obscured. I quite like this razor even with the cracks in the scale but it is very pricey for me; especially with so little known about the maker.

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I'm sorry I missed your earlier post about it, or I would've found this information for you sooner!

I'm pretty confident it's Hilliard, since there were no other people in Sheffield directories with a first initial of R and a last name that began with HI and ended in D. I was also able to find a listing in the 1822 Baines directory, under "Razor Manufacturers" and also "General Cutlery".

It looks like the company also made tableware.

As for the reputation of the manufacturer, I'd expect the razor to be as good as anything anyone in Sheffield made at the time. The name on the tang is just who paid for the work. The work itself was almost certainly done by the same men and women who made razors whose name you'd recognize. So I wouldn't worry too much about the quality of the razor. The scales and the very lesser known mark are the reasons to have a razor like that.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

Zac if you ever publish a book on razors, or perhaps a collection of books, count me in. Your razors are amazing and your knowledge astounding. I love reading your blog.

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I'm slowly working on it. The current plan is to visit Sheffield later this year and take lots and lots of pictures and do lots and lots of research. :)

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Originally Posted by Voidmonster

I'm slowly working on it. The current plan is to visit Sheffield later this year and take lots and lots of pictures and do lots and lots of research. :)

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You have a blog? Could you post the link to it or PM me it's address if you're OK with that? I would love to read what's there....cheers!

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Originally Posted by Phrank

You have a blog? Could you post the link to it or PM me it's address if you're OK with that? I would love to read what's there....cheers!

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I hadn't intended to be quite so subtle about it. :)

It's here, and it hasn't been updated in a long time. I've got a wide range of stuff in various states of cooked, I just need to find the time to get them done.

The Shivering Beggar.

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Originally Posted by Voidmonster

I hadn't intended to be quite so subtle about it. :)

It's here, and it hasn't been updated in a long time. I've got a wide range of stuff in various states of cooked, I just need to find the time to get them done.

The Shivering Beggar.

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Thank-you! Just returned from Easter dinner with the Out-Laws, sorry, I mean, In-laws, and will be diving in during morning coffee....look forward to it! Cheers!

edit: had a quick look, awesome, now I get the name of the blog, didn't expect to see a razor like that, but then again, I should have known better.

Well, that is one of the most enjoyable things I've read regard to cutlery and various stamps. I laughed at your line, "George IV – 1820-1830, was, to the best of my knowledge, the first English monarch to get advertising for his vasty Kingitude stamped into cutlery." That was a stamp you helped identify for me. Your photography of the blades is superb as well.

Haven't hit the archives yet on your blog, but this is thoroughly a great read and a great resource. Thanks again!

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Originally Posted by Phrank

Well, that is one of the most enjoyable things I've read regard to cutlery and various stamps. I laughed at your line, "George IV – 1820-1830, was, to the best of my knowledge, the first English monarch to get advertising for his vasty Kingitude stamped into cutlery." That was a stamp you helped identify for me. Your photography of the blades is superb as well.

Haven't hit the archives yet on your blog, but this is thoroughly a great read and a great resource. Thanks again!

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I'm really glad it's helpful!

Unfortunately, I might have to revise that... Today I found a picture of a machete from 1816 with a crown and GR stamp on it. I still don't know what to make it it.

One of the projects I'm slowly simmering is a visual catalog of common stamps, marketing and slogans and roughly when they were used. It's taking a bit of time, though!

I have a crown VR 7 day set dated 1911....didnt think victoria was that late either.

I have a razor I have been trying to identify and after seeing your two Edward Allison razors I am confident that I have one as well. While it is not stamped Allison the jibs and bone scales and shape of the blade are all the same. Also, what seals it for me are the washers on your second Allison are the same ones on my razor. But would the lack of the Crown seal on mine mean pre-1830 or possibly made for export?

Attachment 166302

Attachment 166303

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Originally Posted by DennisBarberShop

I have a crown VR 7 day set dated 1911....didnt think victoria was that late either.

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Oh, she definitely wasn't. She died January 22nd, 1901.

I assume the date is from a dedication on the box?

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Originally Posted by Tripoli3

I have a razor I have been trying to identify and after seeing your two Edward Allison razors I am confident that I have one as well. While it is not stamped Allison the jibs and bone scales and shape of the blade are all the same. Also, what seals it for me are the washers on your second Allison are the same ones on my razor. But would the lack of the Crown seal on mine mean pre-1830 or possibly made for export?

Attachment 166302

Attachment 166303

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Unfortunately, even such similar design features are no guarantee of who made it. The Sheffield work system meant that design elements like that weren't 'proprietary'. Most likely there was a particular work team who developed the style and they made blades like that for whoever would pay them, and when there weren't any work orders, they made them 'generic' like yours.

Workers often took second and third jobs to pay for first and second ones. Since they had to rent space in the workshop, buy their own materials, pay for gas-lighting, and a whole host of other costs incurred in order to work you see that sort of generic razor quite a lot.

Supposedly the old-timers could tell who made which piece by looking at them, but all that knowledge has been lost now, and probably wasn't even easily passed along in the first place.

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Originally Posted by tedh75

Interesting. I love stuff like that. I really enjoyed your article on William Greaves and Sons. Very informative.
I was wondering if you knew anything about he maker of this razor? I have found precious little myself. The "Y" looks familiar and is that a crown next to it or more "Y's". Also can't make out the symbol opposite the "Y". Do you think it is contemporary to the first Allison you posted?

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Those symbols - 'Y' 'fleur de lys' 'maltese cross' belonged to Joseph & Benjamin Broomhead, brothers, of Fargate, Sheffield. They appear in Sketchley's 1774 Directory and Bailey's 1781 Directory. Benjamin Broomhead was Master Cutler in 1787, but the original listing of the firm shows them as factors - no doubt they made razors under their own name too, though.

When Benjamin died in 1796 the firm became Broomhead and Rutherford, the old mark being retained. There is a listing for Joseph Broomhead, 1817, but no other details are to be found.

They had another brother, Samuel Broomhead, famous for the pistol corporate mark. With his apprentice Joseph Ward they formed Broomhead & Ward.

However, this does not explain R. Hilliard's name below J & B. Broomheads corporate mark, so he either bought the mark or sold razors with this mark which had passed onto someone else.

R. H. Hilliard & Co shows up in an 1822 listing as a table cutlery manufacturer at 9 Meadow Street, but he also appears in Piggot's 1822 directory as a razor-maker in Grindle Gate. Grindle is thought to have derived from the word 'grinding' and the area was full of people in the steel industry, like knife and razor grinders, edged implement makers, surgeons instrument makers, etc, so it is a probability that R. H. Hilliard was something to do with making razors.

Regards,
Neil