Vintage English Cutthroat Straight Razor
Razor: Shaw & Sons 1" 1/16ths
Scales: Box Elder Burr Wood . Double Dyed & Stabilised.
Wedge: Box Elder Burr Lined With Bronze.
Pinning: Solid Brass Collars & Pins.
Edge: A Full Nagura Progression Performed On A Nakayama Maruka Karasu.
Details: This Beautiful Straight Razor is a Huge 27mm at it's Widest Point. Masonic Etching On The Blades Face . Tang Stamped, "Shaw & Sons - Celebrated Razor" & Thumb Notch.
Pitting & Hone Wear. (See Pictures or Please Ask)
*History*
John Shaw of Wolverhampton, factor and merchant, was born in Penn in 1782. The first reference to the date of the establishment of the business appears in a publication called "The Hardwareman" of 1895 (ref. 417), which states that "the earliest surviving records of the business are of the year 1795, though, to be exact, its origin may have been a little earlier". This would make John Shaw 13 years old when he started to trade. Later, in the same article, reference is made to "a very old order book", implied to belong to John Shaw, (and uniquely identifiable by having a riddle penned on its inside cover) (ref. 151), which covers the period 1790 to 1820. In actual fact, it is an order book belonging to the Wilkinson family of Colne, Lancashire. (John Shaw married Elizabeth Wilkinson in 1813.) The first authenticable documentary evidence of the establishment of the business does not appear until 1805 (Stock book, ref. 401). John Shaw was the sole proprietor of his wholesale hardware, or factoring business, which was chiefly confined to the home trade, until 1815, when he went into partnership with Henry Crane. During the period of the partnership, the Calcutta House of T E Thomson & Co was established (1834) in India, and John Shaw brought his sons into the business. The partnership continued for 33 years, but eventually ended in 1848. Mr Crane continued in business in Darlington Street, Wolverhampton, on his own account after the dissolution of Shaw & Crane.
The business now became known as John Shaw & Sons, and around 1852, moved from George Street to 64 Church Lane. With the death of John Shaw in 1858 (aged 76), two of his sons, Thomas Wilkinson Shaw and Edward Dethick Shaw became proprietors (John Shaw junior having died in India in 1839). The home and export trades were extended, and branches or connections were established in Canada, Australia, the East and West Indies, amongst others. Edward Shaw died in 1886 (aged 65) and Thomas Shaw in 1887 (aged 69), creating a problem for the future of the Company. Taking advantage of the Limited Liability Acts, two companies were registered in 1887, one to take over the East Indian establishment (T E Thomson & Co Ltd), and one to acquire the Wolverhampton business (John Shaw & Sons, Wolverhampton, Ltd). All shares were strictly private, and were taken by the families of the late partners and brothers.
In 1896, John Shaw & Sons Ltd took over J & W Hawkes of Birmingham (est. 1831), and incorporated William & Henry Bate (est. 1849) and Owen & Fendelow (est. 1770) into the group in 1899. The incorporation of Owen & Fendelow included Windle & Blyth, Walsall (inc. 1853), Henry Stuart & Company (inc. 1877) and Plimley & Company (inc. 1888). 1899 saw John Shaw & Sons Ltd move to Fryer Street, because the company could not expand any further at their Church Lane premises. In 1906, the group incorporated Onions & Company of Birmingham.
John Shaw & Sons Ltd became a public company in 1919. By 1937, John Shaw & Sons Ltd had outgrown their Fryer Street premises, and moved to what was known as the Bushbury Works (formerly occupied by Clyno Engineering) on Fourth Avenue, Bushbury, taking with them Jenks Brothers Ltd, and the British Tool & Engineering Company Ltd, who had been incorporated that year.
Moore & Wright, and the Avia Steel & Tool Company Ltd were both incorporated in 1945.
In 1970, the John Shaw group of companies were incorporated by James Neill Holdings PLC, and in 1986 were moved away from the Britool Works in Bushbury; Britool being transferred to Abbey Dropforge in Cannock.
