Description
The blade of this vintage razor from Geo. Wostenholm & Son is in excellent condition. It is a small 5/8 in depth with a plain spine and round point, while the tang bears the Wostenholm pipe mark. The scales are of composite, Bakelite I believe. They are in very good condition save that on one side there is some dicolouration from sunlight.
The blade bears the following .. “The Original And Only Genuine Pipe Razor, Manufactured Solely By Geo. Wostenholm & Son, Mark Granted AD 1694”.
Manufactured in Sheffield, Wostenholm razors are rightly sought after. This is a nice example being sold on behalf of a customer.
In the mid-1700’s, there was reputedly a cutler by the name of George Wolstenholme working in the village of Stannington, near Sheffield (the supposed birthplace of the Barlow pocket knife). However it took three generations and one name change for the company to really make its mark on Sheffield’s cutlery history. Originally the family name was spelt ‘Wolstenholme’ but, story has it that the second George found this name too long for smaller knives so he omitted the letters ‘l’ and ‘e’. The name has been spelt Wostenholm ever since.
The second George moved production to Sheffield where he built the fabled Rockingham Works (known locally as the Rockingham Wheel) in around 1810. Knives made in this factory and marked “Rockingham Works” are highly prized by knife collectors to this day. In 1834, following is father’s death, the third George Wostenholm took the company reins. Although the company had achieved considerable success under his father, it was the third George that catapulted Wostenholms to the head of Sheffield knife making. Wostenholms were selling knives to America as early as 1830 through a partnership with a William Stenton.
George’s sales trips to America began soon after, and subsequently he established offices from New York across to San Fransisco through which he could service growing demand for his craftsmen made I*XL knives.The Washington Works was the largest cutlery works of its time, with a reported 800 employees manfacturing razors and cutlery under one roof. Sheffield lost one of its most famous sons when George died in 1876 but his legacy lives on and Wostenholm is still one of the world’s most instantly recognisable knife and razor brands to this day. Information courtesy of www.sheffieldcollectableknives.com
