shaving paraphernalia (artifacts #26)

We are happy to display our only jointly-owned artifacts.  The razor belonged to C.A. Doyle and the other items were used by A.W. Franklin.

The razor opens to 10 1/2", including the handle.  The cutting portion of the blade is 3" long.  A strop is usually leather, but this one is made of rubber.  Round cakes of perfumed shaving soap were sold to fit into the mug, but for practical purposes, scraps of hand soap were thrown in there.  Albert swore by lye soap, claiming that, although it would not lather, the shave was superior.  I can't imagine these men using perfumed soap or even an after-shave lotion, derisively called stink water.

The monogram on the strop and a piece of masking tape on the cup bottom identified the owner in a communal wash room.  That would have been necessary when Albert was in the Navy (1917-18) or when he was in residence at an auctioneer's school in Indiana (1945).

The mug is crockery, glazed inside and out, with a trademark Currier & Ives picture.  Currier was a lithographer and Ives was the artist who were active from 1857 through 1907.  The scene does appear to be a lithograph fired along with the glaze.  Currier & Ives continue to be popular to the present day, but I doubt that such items would be fired of common potting clay.