Thread: Pygmlian's disease: in which Zak fixes every ugly duckling he can find.

Originally Posted by Mike12345

I'm feeling like the dumbest guy in the room here. What's the GR stamp and what does it mean?
Nice save and outstanding condition given it's age!

Generally, when you have a [letter], crown, and R stamp it indicates the reigning monarch at the time. It's called a royal warrant. V = Victoria, W = William. Here, G = George IV so we can date it to somewhere between 1820 - 1830.

Correction: I mistyped. It's not a royal warrant, it's just a sovereign mark.

I am sure that was a "patch knife". Razors were adapted like this back in the muzzleloading days to cut patches from scraps of cloth to reload. Lord knows it has seen lots more than shaving! Nice save!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I am sure that was a "patch knife". Razors were adapted like this back in the muzzleloading days to cut patches from scraps of cloth to reload. Lord knows it has seen lots more than shaving! Nice save!

That's really cool. For some that would fall into the grey area of "do I preserve it as a patch knife?" or "do I restore it as a razor?"

My first thought was a carving knife, which people used to make razors into sometimes, but usually I think they grind them down, and would also expect it to be in worse shape.