Those grey scales are gorgeous. I have them on my kikuboshi and you know pics do not do those things justice. They look like they are still liquid. You put them on an amazing blade. If you did not say they were a swap I would have assumed they were the original scales. The white ones look like they have that liquid look as well in the pics and are gorgeous. Two amazing straights.
Wright Warranted Stub Tail Circa 1775-1810 approx. I purchased this one for a little over $16, because it was a Stub Tail Razor. The rust was so bad, the lettering could not be read. I knocked a little rust off, But it has much more work to be done. I can now make out the name. I am only guessing the approx age. I know it is old, and pretty sure it is a regrind. Any info on this razor would be very helpful.
Crown and Sword 13/16th inch Germany Over polished by someone else. It came from France. I might have to knock some of the shine off of it.
"The Bagpiper" FAMEX #1 Garantie. Solingen Germany Best Silver Steel 11/16+ inches. Straight from France. The whole thing needs some minor touching up, but very easily doable. I only need to take care, around the Gold etching.
Frederick Reynolds Sheffield Tortoise??? I mainly bought these for the scales. They looked interesting, perhaps tortoise? The brown sections on most, go through the entire scale. Some spots are in the center of the scales, and dont show up clearly, on either side, just floating. Any opinions??
Dyed horn, the faux tortoise of the day. Genuine tortoise is almost always a much warmer color especially in the light areas. Blonde horn is rather yellowish/greenish compared to totroise. Heljes were frequently darker, but IIRC 3 different species were used for shell.
Oops, bad choice of wording/spelling IIRC = ‘if I remember correctly’, and Three different turtle species were used for tortoise shell. Here’s an image of my Touron Parisot set. Note the difference in the color of especially the light areas, and in general the dark areas are not as sharply defined as they are with dyed horn. I’ll try to post a better image soon.
It can delaminate. If you search on tortoise shell restoration you can see examples. I’ve never seen delaminated SR scales though, all I’ve seen have been in parquetry where one side of the shell is glued to something, usually wood.
