Quote Originally Posted by Neil Miller View Post
Yes, a real gem of a razor!

The tang mark could be Pickslay & Co and underneath Peruvian Silver Steel?

If so, Charles Picksaly (b1781) would have been the cutler. He was in a number of companies (Green, Pickslay & Co, Pickslay, Appleby & Bertram, Picklay & Co.) and had made proper silver steel razors from an ingot of that metal supplied by Michael Faraday. At one point (c1828) Adam Padley was a partner, his company being absorbed by Charles Pickslay. Some examples of Peruvian Steel razors have a stylized 'AP' on the tang near the pivot. In 1834 Pickslay registered the PERUVIAN mark and proclaimed himself as the only maker of Peruvian Steel, made by a process "only known to Himself" although one presumes it must have had Peruvian silver as an alloying agent. He was making Peruvian Steel cutlery in Solly Street in 1834 as Pickslay & Co. Appleby seems to have disappeared by then and James Bertram (late Pickslay & Co) was a Merchant, Factor & Manufacturer of 11 Norfolk Street (still making Table knives, Razors, Stove Grates, listed under Ironmongers). Pickslay died of apoplexy in 1844.

Of course, it just looks like it says those things on it - a higher res, larger pic of the tang stamp would have been nice.
Pickslay & Co is the only maker stamp I can think of that fits the space on the top (I can only recall 5-6 cutlers with "& Co." around 1820-1840, but that sure doesn't mean there aren't others), but I'm not at all sure about the bottom being PERUVIAN SILVER STEEL. Back to 1826 when Pickslay was anonymously singing his own praises in the newspaper row over silver steel, he was calling it just 'Peruvian Steel' as a separate thing from silver steel. (The letter signed 'Another Friend To Invention' in the December 16th, 1826 edition of the Independent).

I could swear I've seen a razor stamped 'Perfected Silver Steel', but I never replied to this before because, unhelpfully, I can't remember where.