So looking for help identifying the razor. Its previous owner thought that it might be French from the time of the Napoleonic Wars (so early 1800s). In my view it has clearly been restored with heavy sanding/grinding to remove most of the rust pitting. There is still a touch of active rust, but overall the metal is very shiny. There are no markings of any kind. It is about 6/8” wide, with a wedge grind and a rather peculiar deep barber’s notch at the toe.
The scales are almost entirely straight and in my inexpert opinion are ivory. I base this on 3 ”tells”
1) They look identical in color and surface appearance to one of my razors that I am sure has ivory scales.
2) No washers under the pin heads
3) The scales are very thin - I’ve noticed that my ivory scaled razors have much thinner scales compared to horn, wood, plastic.
My own guess is that it is probably French, probably no later than 1870. But I’ve never seen pre-1850 French razors, only Sheffield ones.
The scales are almost entirely straight and in my inexpert opinion are ivory. I base this on 3 ”tells”
1) They look identical in color and surface appearance to one of my razors that I am sure has ivory scales.
2) No washers under the pin heads
3) The scales are very thin - I’ve noticed that my ivory scaled razors have much thinner scales compared to horn, wood, plastic.
My own guess is that it is probably French, probably no later than 1870. But I’ve never seen pre-1850 French razors, only Sheffield ones.
