I seem to be collecting a quantity of razors made by George Wostenholm and Sons of Sheffield. They seem to be fairly regular items on ebay and often I've come across them in antique stores. ALL of the Wostys I've ever used have been very good shavers. I currently have two in my regular rotation. There are about a half-dozen or more in my 'restore' queue. I recently purchased another one—another frameback model. This particular one I found unique for a couple of reasons. 1. Wostenholm framebacks don't appear too often (majority were only made between 1850-1870). 2. The possible 'history' behind it. The razor itself is in pretty rough shape. Scales are worn and cracked, with a piece missing just 'north of the pivot pin. There is an extra 'nail' in the wedge end. Somewhere along this razor's history, someone hand -inscribed ('carved') the following in the scales: "Captured at Selma Alabama April 2nd 1865." The Battle of Selma did occur on April 2, 1865 and was one of the last major battles of the civil war. Whether this razor actually belonged to one of the confederate soldiers and was taken as war plunder is certainly debatable. But someone took the time years ago to inscribe the handle. The razor is from that era (1850-1870), so the possibility exists a victorious union soldier collected the souvenir while passing through the enemy's camp. I'm not likely to 'restore' this razor as part of the charm is the character and potential historicity.
ebay seller. I just stumbled across the listing. The seller wasn't entirely familiar with straight razors (listed it as 'german-made') & stated, 'Civil war razor'...'1886'— I pm'd him that the scale inscription actually says, '1865' and then made a offer, which was accepted. I look forward to actually having this razor in-hand for a closer inspection. Per the auction photos, the razor is showing it's age. I'll carefully remove the rust. More pics of the 'backside.' Evident rust and decrepit scale....
Hey Kevin, that looks like more writing on the back! Once you get it in and can thoroughly examine it you'll have to let us know all about it. Cool cool!!
I shall. Hopefully the potential deciphering of the other inscriptions adds to the novelty or historicity, and not detract from it.
Now that I've had the razor in hand, deciphering the inscribed text on the second scale side has been a challenge. Side One: Easy to read as the text is quite legible…"Captured at Selma Alabama April 2nd 1865" Side Two: Greater wear but the inscribed text has characters similar to the archaic "Palmer cursive" used on side one… I can make out certain parts of the text on the second side. It is perhaps the new razor's owners name and military regiment. Pictured above— "77th (---) Ind (?)"—which, per my initial research, could possibly by indicating the '77th Indiana Regiment'—which was "engaged in raids through Alabama and participated at Plantersville and Selma in April."(the Civil War index) The pivot pin section is worn but I can make out two initial caps, "S" and an "H" followed by lower case script text—possibly the owner's name. Tough to capture in a photograph, but easier to see in the right light. So far, very interesting!
This is super interesting. Love it when an item comes with history like this. I will be very curious about how this ends up looking. Grats on a great find!
Kevin Talk about an obscure find, and yes it is superlative. Looks to be in good condition taking into account it's age. Well done Kevin!
Super cool! My GGG Grandfather, Samuel Clark, served in the 9th Indiana Infantry during that time period, but I don't think they were at Selma. Wikipedia's list of engagements doesn't go into 65 at all, but I know he wasn't mustered out until sometime that year. Only relative I know of that served in the war, stayed a private the whole year he was in too, but lived through it and had six kids afterwards. Boy would it have been cool if we could've said the owner of your razor served in the same company, but it is very unlikely they even saw each other since it was the wrong division. History can be so fun, though! This was him in the 80's I think. Doesn't even resemble me, but that many generations back, it would be strange if he did.
