2 SHAVE READY~VINTAGE~BURGESS CUT THROAT STRAIGHT RAZORS~WITH NEW DIAMOND STROP!

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Offered is a SHAVE READY combination of 2 fine, antique, Sheffield-made razors accompanied by one of my Uncle Tom's Diamond pasted Strops for occasional servicing of fine edges such as these. These 5/8+ width concave ground razors came to me a long while back in sad shape. Made in Sheffield and dealt in Westminster, London from the worlds oldest indoor shopping arcade by R.Burgess and Son, the original ivory scales were cracked and broken and the blades had been allowed to rust. Instead of tossing them, I did some research on the original retailer and decided to rescale, clean up, and make them shave ready for a new owner who desires some fine Sheffield shavers with an interesting history at a reasonable cost. They have been cleaned, polished and hand sanded somewhat to remove the rust and most of the pitting, which is common in old carbon steel blades. Some pitting remains, but nothing to keep them from being fine shavers. The blade's faces have been left with a satin finish and the entire blades have been treated with Tufglide. They have been tightly pinned in some matching, vintage Bakelite scales with absolutely no defects using vintage silver collars and a new silver top pin as well as stainless steel spacers between the blades and scales. Prepared properly, for use. Rest assured, they shave great. A bit of history: R. Burgess and Son was a high-end retailer at #15 in the prestigious Royal Opera Arcade (see last picture), off of Pall Mall. Many fine items survive with their marks from their heyday there, such as brass and ivory binoculars (for the opera), as well as 7 day sets of ivory-scaled razors. Built along the back wall of the Royal Opera House in 1816 and designed by John Nash (Trafalgar Square), it was the first indoor shopping venue in England, arguably anywhere! THIS was the Original Shopping Mall! 19 shops lined one side and the entrance to the Opera House was on the other side. Well-heeled Opera patrons would enter the Opera through the arcade and peruse the shops as they came and went. It must have been a profitable location in those days! At one point R .Burgess and Son occupied 3 of the 19 spaces. In 1867 the Opera House burned to the ground in 1 hour's time, taking 3 of the shops in the Arcade. The Opera was rebuilt across the street eventually and the Arcade was left to stand alone with 18 spaces surviving. I would expect business fell off considerably after this tradgedy and can only conclude that R. Burgess and Son possibly sold these blades in the early 1860's before the fire, but the name was still listed at the #15 address in 1884 with a different occupation, listed as hairdressers, so who knows? This is all I can find. The Arcade still stands and is home to several small exclusive concerns. It is also a tourist and historical destination. #15 is now home to a "Sandwich Centre" sandwich shop! These are great, concave, tight, Sheffield made, SHAVE READY and clean shavers with excellent balance as well as top and bottom tang jimps for good grip/control. If you desire a couple of FINE shavers, THESE are the way to go and I truly believe new shavers could benefit from them. They will arrive with new bevels set and freshly honed in a pyramid technique, finish honed, stropped on fine leather and shave tested, restropped on fine leather, sterilized, sealed in clean plastic, and ready to shave upon recieving. No disappointments here. SHAVE TESTED !! Please see pictures for all details. The 2 brass razor stands are included, of course. Now, for the included diamond pasted strop : The Uncle Tom's Diamond Pasted Strop, which is included, is a tool to refresh the edges on good shavers such as these when the daily leather stropping routine is inadequate to restore the fine edges they now have. However, the included razors will not be needing it for a very long time! This is to be used only at that time and on average,20 to 30 shave intervals and sometimes longer,as all beards and razors are different. I recommend 0.5 as a good micron number of diamond paste for this ... read more

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