Wow man, that's an amazing looking razor.
The second razor is nice as well. Is that the one you think might be a W&B? I can't make out the name, but the squiggly line underneath the maker's stamp should help identify who the maker is, don't you think? Since it says "Sheffield, England" it was most likely made after 1891, but I'm sure there are some razors out there that were made before 1891 that had "England" stamped on the tang, but are most likely very rare.
I'm still trying to win an elusive masonic etched razor. They tend to go for a lot of money at auction, so they're never cheap.
Coincidentally, I have an old Isaac Barber that's similar looking, it even has the same collars! Man I wish I could pick up some collars like this, but the closest thing I've seen are the rosettes. They're nice, but not as nice as these. That blade looks pretty darn heavy, and I love the shape of the tail. The etching is really nice, can you feel it under your fingertips?
Believe it or not, I have a John Heiffor as well, here's a pic the seller took of the razor. I still haven't got around to cleaning it up yet. As you can see, some of the edge was lost through honing over the years, but I think that's the full etching. I think it will look good once it's been restored.
And here's that Isaac Barber I bought some time ago. The photo is from the seller, as I haven't taken any photos yet. I did remove some of the rust, but there's a lot of work ahead of me on this razor. I originally though it was a John Barber, but I was wrong. He had some trouble with people copying his razors. There was apparently a lot of copy theft going on back in the day. That's why he changed his maker's mark to the masonic square & compass. I have an old statement he put out from the 19th century. It's in my shaving history folder. I'll see if I can dig it up for you.
And here it is:
I'm sorry about the photos, I know they're not that exciting, but once I restore the razor, I'll post the pics.
If you noticed in the second photo, "Silver Steel" is stamped on the tang.
Apparently there was an actual steel with silver added (something like .02% silver added to the steel, or maybe 2%, I forget). I think it was invented by Michael Faraday, who was apparently a very brilliant and famous 19th century inventor from England. A lot of razors used the whole "silver steel"
thing as a gimmick, away of selling the razor. I doubt there are many razors with actual silver in the steel, but maybe a few do exist? I had another photo of the blade showing the name "I.Barber" stamped on the side of the spine, but there's a limit to how many photos I could post, so I posted the John Barber notice instead.
Apparently Isaac Barber was the chap that John Barber accused of copying his razors, and I'd say he was 100% correct, because I bought the razor thinking the "I" was a "J" that had been worn away over time! I'm glad I bought it, because the story behind the razor is really interesting, and I literally bought it thinking it was a genuine John Barber razor, and in fact it was one of the copies that drove him to change his makers mark!
Hilarious!
-grey.
