Oh man, not another George Brittain thread!
Yeah, sorry. Another George Brittain thread.
Though, not just George Brittain, and not one of those artless bristle cleavers remarkable only for being huge.
http://theshiveringbeggar.com/wp-con...circa-1787.png
Their listed trademarks circa 1787
This is a Brittain, Wilkinson & Brownell razor. My best guess on date is between 1800 and 1810. The firm goes back to 1774 or so and it hosted an incredible number of early luminaries. Broomhead and Ibberson were both associated, if only briefly.
But that's boring. Here's the razor.
http://theshiveringbeggar.com/wp-con...3/IMG_8368.jpg
I got it in the original paddle-strop box. At this point, all the leather is gone and most of the cloth interior too. Thankfully, the razor is in quite good shape. It did have a thin orange glaze of rust which I scrubbed off before taking pictures (which is why it looks sanded -- I sanded it a little).
http://theshiveringbeggar.com/wp-con...3/IMG_8369.jpg
Wait, is it Brittain or France!? To which I say 'yes'. And while I have no doubt that any number of jokes were made from the very beginning about Brittain having the France mark, in this case it probably refers to Jonathan France, a file-cutter and one of the founding members of the company. Not, apparently, so important that he got into the byline though.
http://theshiveringbeggar.com/wp-con...3/IMG_8370.jpg
The scales are clearly the product of a beetle feast, but I shouldn't have much trouble fixing them up.
http://theshiveringbeggar.com/wp-con...3/IMG_8371.jpg
It's a somewhat unusual blade shape. The entire body of the blade has a quill profile, even the tang. There's that hint of a thumb hollow and most intriguingly, an etched line at the end of the cutting edge, just before the slight hollowing of the blade. That's not a crack.
http://theshiveringbeggar.com/wp-con...3/IMG_8373.jpg
There you can see how the slope of the spine comes to a point, and how the tang tapers down to be very thin at the tail.
It feels wonderful in hand, with superb balance and just the right weight for its size. Generally, it is far better made than almost all the razors I've handled from the era.
This just makes those huge GB stamped razors even sadder to me, like looking at American cars built in the 1980's. It would seem that Verdon Brittain did not inherit -- along with the company -- a sense of aesthetics.
