Interesting and POSSIBLY very old Tillotson wedge

[chefnapier]

On a lark I recently purchased this Tillotson wedge in very rough condition for $20 on the hunch that it might actually date back to the 18th century. I've cleaned it up to the point that you can see here and was surprised to see that the scales might be the original pair due to the age of the wood and the pre-1850's sized beehive washer still in place. I know the basic history of the various iterations of the Tillotson companies but I have not been able to find a Tillotson mark with anything resembling the script seen on the tang here. All of the varieties of Tillotson stamps that I've found are much more traditional block letters. My guess is that this particular blade pre-dates the 1800's and possibly goes back to the 1770's when Thomas Tillotson founded his company in Sheffield. Due to some serious faults on the opposite side the only way that this piece will ever shave again is with a re-grind, which I'm currently debating, but I'm hoping someone here might be able to give me more information about it or maybe point me in a good direction to find more information.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Legion]

Anything is possible, but generally the tail and tang shape like that would be more common from the early to mid 19th century than the 18th.

 

[chefnapier]

Anything is possible, but generally the tail and tang shape like that would be more common from the early to mid 19th century than the 18th.

Thank you, I was thinking something similar but the stamping seems to be so completely different from all of the contemporary Tillotson stampings that it's left me scratching my head. Hopefully, someone will have as example stamped like this one and a little background information to go with it.

 

[TSENG]

I will refer to this picture. Guess 1850~1880.

 

[chefnapier]

I will refer to this picture. Guess 1850~1880.

That tail style graphic has typically been useful for me as well but Tillotson went out of business in 1860 and at that point their brand stampings were all industry standard block letters. Maybe this was just some weird one-off sample that somehow survived and the different stamping was their way of differentiating it from production models.

 

[TSENG]

Curved scales began in the mid-19th century.

 

[J B Addis]

I doubt the scales were original on the razor as new. Entirely likely that they're of 19th century manufacture however. I'd guess that the washers were just reused from the original scales. I'm no expert, but the blade looks standard mid 19th century in shape to me.

 

[chefnapier]

I doubt the scales were original on the razor as new. Entirely likely that they're of 19th century manufacture however. I'd guess that the washers were just reused from the original scales. I'm no expert, but the blade looks standard mid 19th century in shape to me.

That seems entirely reasonable and it would somewhat explain why one of the washer sets are older beehive and the other one was a very crude manually cut square piece of metal with a nailed peened on as the pivot. The scales themselves are very well made and have cleaned up beautifully. It seems to be the consensus that the blade dates to the mid 19th, which makes sense, but I'm guessing the odd script stamping will forever remain a mystery.

 

[kcb5150]

That's definitely 19thc imo but it doesn't really matter. Tillotson razors aren't the easiest to come by vs other makers and are great quality. I have one with a crazy tang stamp as well.

 

[chefnapier]

That's definitely 19thc imo but it doesn't really matter. Tillotson razors aren't the easiest to come by vs other makers and are great quality. I have one with a crazy tang stamp as well.

Beautiful blade on that one. I'm trying to find someone to regrind mine now.

 

[Frank Shaves]

Nice job on the clean-up!

 

[chefnapier]

Nice job on the clean-up!

Evaporust was definitely my friend here.

 

[Frank Shaves]

Welcome, @chefnapier - I just noticed that you recently joined!

 

[Gamma]

generally the tail and tang shape like that would be more common from the early to mid 19th century....

^
this

I'd bet a dollar on 1830-1860...

 

[chefnapier]

Welcome, @chefnapier - I just noticed that you recently joined!

Thank you Frank!