Thread: Help with maker identification

I've got this old stub-tailed razor that I couldn't find any info on it...Does anyone identify the stamp on the tang? Date? I will greatly appreciate it if you could spell some light on it. the back side is blank.



Thank you.

Very interesting. It looks French from the stamping, but the pronounced tail is not typical from a lot of French razors from that period. I thought I saw a razor like this somewhere recently - I'll have to look for it. My off-hand guess would be late 1700s, but I'll wait for someone more knowledgeable to chime in.

I doubt it is a late 1700 since it have jimps below the tang, and as far as I know there were no jimps on razor until 1820-30, but you are most welcome to correct me if i'm wrong

You should ask manah. In most cases he can help to identify razors!
You should do a trip to the Golan Heights and meet him.

Originally Posted by eTom

You should ask manah. In most cases he can help to identify razors!
You should do a trip to the Golan Heights and meet him.

Haha thats for sure! I will probably learn a thing or two.

I was there in 2011 and learned a lot...

Looks like a french mark to me.

The 'Medaille Argent' merely means that the maker won a silver medal in some category or other. Usually we associate these markings with one of the many Expositions (aka World Fairs) started by the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in London, 1851. France hosted Expositions Universelles in 1855, 1867, 1878, 1889, 1900 and 1937, but obviously this razor looks too old for that.

French razors had developed a stub tail by 1775, by the 1800s it was quite developed and by the 1830s most of them looked no different to tails of razors from other countries.

This razor is a late 1700s design, but as we all know, judging age by design trends is quite a fallible process, and one to be avoided if at all possible. I have seen examples like this made around 1820 - 40. One Paris maker in particular seemed to make razors between 1840 - 1860 that echoed earlier designs.

Regards,
Neil

Very interesting blade for sure, like Neil mentions in his post the markings on the razor blade and the style dont seem to match if we go by the "Medaille d'Argent" stamp usually and commonly found on Expositions rewarded items.

Looking at the Cutlery trademark registration office in Thiers France, i did find a very similar stamp from "Bostmambrun Freres", (brothers) in 1815, the record only go back to 1809, that said it is highly possible that Bostmambrun Freres trademark was a lot older.


Another example of Antoine and Henri Bostmambrun, trademark on this picture under the number 364.

There is certainly evidence that the Bostmambrun family has been involved in cutlery way before 1800's, the earlier i found was 1666 and a court record from 1703, about a cutlery mark dispute.

Thank you all for the very detailed information! It is very interesting indeed.
I will later try and post a picture of the razor with the scales that it arrived with, maybe it will help identify more of its personality.

Any ideas of which scales it was possibly made of? Shape? Color? Meterial? I really want to try and restore it nicely and authentically as possible.