Thread: Packwood stub

Originally Posted by Martin103

In looking at different Packwood razors i came across Cheetah's razors a stub tail packwood what surprised me about his was the writing on it,
"I am good, I can't be better, I tell you by letter", sounds like this kind of writing could very well be from George Packwood somewhat "telling"
to me.

Hey Cheetah's razors all have copyrights on them...LOL. This post is amazing. Thanks for the charts. Someone send me a PM when things get this interesting please. How old is mine?

Oh boy she needs a wee bit of sanding. I can't wait to shave with her. Sorry for hijacking the thread. We now return to our regularly scheduled program.....

You know, when I put together that chart, part of the point was to illustrate that tail-length isn't a great indicator.

In any event, I'd guess that EOD7's Packwood is probably late 1820's. It's very, very similar to this Lord & Harvey.

Cheetah's is a dead ringer for the Packwood from Lummus' first article. That one was dated 1828 (and while I'm suspicious of a lot of Lummus' data, I have no reason to doubt that one).

As for Mr. Packwood himself, I've dug up a fair bit.

When he published his book of ads (and ran ads advertizing his book of advertizing!), he was most famous for selling packages that were made to resemble a goldfinch's nest, and the 'eggs' in the nest were little containers of strop paste.


(From the Porcupine Gazette, Philadelphia, PA, December 17th, 1797 -- a lot of those 'f's are 's's in disguise)

He was mentioned by Lord Byron of all people (because his wife once, when asked about how such a busy man had time to write the poems in his ads said, "Laws, sir, we keeps a poet!". Byron was not being kind.)

There were a lot of 'Razor Strop Men' around 1800. Packwood was probably the most famous, followed by J. R. Huggins, then Henry 'Razor Strop Man' Smith. The modus operandi was to have really, really entertaining prattle and then sell lots and lots of strops and/or paste. Interestingly, Packwood, Huggins and Smith all published books. Packwood was more about the poesy, Huggins did crazy narratives, and Smith pounded the Temperance Bible with tales of his misspent youth.

Actually, I should back up slightly. Huggins was more of a barber than a merchant, though by the end he was selling products branded with his name. Initially though, he just had a fancy barber shop in New York City and called himself Desborus the 1st, Emperor of Barbers.

Huggins also sold strops and razors, and pretty regularly spoke glowingly of Packwood. His ads were pop-culture mash-ups featuring counter-factual stories about the Mammoth Cheese, Napoleon's exploits, Gulliver's Travels, Knickerbocker's History of New York, and many others.

After George Packwood died, his family seems to have well and truly continued the business.

In the American market, ads for Packwood razors only really appear after 1830.


(from the Glouchester Democrat, of Glouchester, MA, January 5th 1836)

His razors were probably made by more than one Sheffield cutler. I'd put money down that Wade & Butcher made some (in the early part of their business, they were more about the steel refining -- the cutlery started as a sideline to their double-refined steel). Joseph Rodgers may well have been in on the fun too.

I have only one Packwood. I'd guess it's late in the run, probably from around the time of that last advertisement.





The scales are bone. Those pictures are the condition I got it in. I have since started cleaning it.

George Packwood was born in 1755 and died in 1811. Since there is no evidence of a George Packwood razor, most Packwood razor seems to be from 1820 to 1840, and like Jimmy said if he advertise his strops why not his razors?.
George Packwood sold a lot of strops and paste, i believed that a razor company put his name on razors because of his popularity and a big perhaps that a family member was involved in the process. Is there any evidence of a packwood razor that dates before 1811?

Originally Posted by Martin103

George Packwood was born in 1755 and died in 1811. Since there is no evidence of a George Packwood razor, most Packwood razor seems to be from 1820 to 1840, and like Jimmy said if he advertise his strops why not his razors?.
George Packwood sold a lot of strops and paste, i believed that a razor company put his name on razors because of his popularity and a big perhaps that a family member was involved in the process. Is there any evidence of a packwood razor that dates before 1811?

Ah, I got sloppy with my possessive forms there. I didn't mean razors made for George Packwood, but razors with his name on them. I've never seen anything from close to before he died.

While it's certainly possible that an unscrupulous cutler started stamping razors with his name after the bones had settled, it seems much likelier that it was his family continuing the business (and branching out). Considering that the razors stamped PACKWOOD seem to have spanned 10 years or more, it just doesn't seem likely to be a sham product. It's possible someone bought the rights to his name, but his strops were for sale continuously after his death and well into the 1820's and that strongly implies his family kept producing.

And then i find reference to Packwood razors in a London book:

Originally Posted by Martin103

And then i find reference to Packwood razors in a London book:

That is really something. Any indication of the date of origin of that snippet in the book ?

Huh!

True 'nuff!

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

Huh!

True 'nuff!

Thats from the same book and article about George Packwood!

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

That is really something. Any indication of the date of origin of that snippet in the book ?

The book is from 1858 with a gama of snippets from differents dates!