Find! W&B Sheffield 7/8 Wedge "Magnum Bonum"

**Bravoure** · 07-03-2012, 10:49 PM

Went out antiquing in Amarillo, Texas today and stumbled across this fantastic looking straight! Funny thing was, the other dozen or so straight this lady had were all in the $40 price range and were average, boring brands with equally uninspiring blades. However! In the back of the shop I spotted this beauty for only $12. Nice big blade, the edge is in fantastic condition except for a roughly 0.5cm x 0.5cm rust spot on the heel. The scales however are pretty eaten away. Initial estimates date it around 1830-1840, can anyone give me a better idea or tell me if I'm way off? Should make for a rather nice restoration! Now to decide if I want to keep it or not... I've never seen a W&B with "Magnum Bonum" etched into the blade, can anyone give me some background about that part of it?

Pics!

Here it is with the rest of today's haul

And closer pics of the razor:

**whiskerwacker** · 07-03-2012, 11:02 PM

Google translate puts "Magnum-Bonum" as "Great-Good," so W&B seems to be saying that you found a great good razor! Nice find!

**Bravoure** · 07-03-2012, 11:05 PM

I googled it too and another W&B came up with someone stating it meant "big beauty". Either way, it's rather nice!

**BakerAndBadger** · 07-04-2012, 12:13 AM

Hi,
Sorry to tell you but it's one of those cheap chinese replicas that arrived in the US recently, horrible to hone and will never take an edge. The aging is done in a mixture of water buffalo manure and rice wine by a 5 year old orphan in the Hang Seng province of Manchuria. Believe it or not it started out as a Gold Dollar and some bright spark decided to convert it into a promotional item for Tom Selleck, hence the Magnum reference. The Bonum part is a frinese (french/chinese) hybrid word, originally in French it is Bon Homme, meaning "Genuinely nice fellow with a great taste in shirts".
I googled this and found references to Tom Selleck using them to cut the tip of his cigars and later on trim his 'tache.
The fact that you found this in Texas might mean it's one of his own private stock as he is an afficionado of all things yellow - Amarillo being spanish for Yellow.

If you send it to me I'll dispose of it for you in my Chinese replica razor cemetry (the bottom draw of my bedside cabinet).

Great and interesting find, hope you enjoy the honing process as I hear wedges are horrors.

**Bravoure** · 07-04-2012, 12:23 AM

I must admit, it took me a few reads to catch the humor in your reply. Thank you for the creative background info!

**BakerAndBadger** · 07-04-2012, 12:31 AM

Originally Posted by Bravoure

I googled it too and another W&B came up with someone stating it meant "big beauty". Either way, it's rather nice!

Would have prefered to google "Big Booty"!!!

**TnutsShave** · 07-04-2012, 06:23 AM

Is that vintage Cade?

Sweet brush too.

The straight looks like a nice specimin, but I would be surprised if it were as old as you think. If it were 1830's-ish, I would expect it to be more of a stub tail, but I could be wrong. I'm sure someone with more dating experience will chime in, however I don't think that length of tail started to appear until after the turn of the century.

EDIT: Looked into it more, it looks like it might be 1850's ish. The tail is shorter than I initially though upon first glance. SAWEET! I found a reference that stated W&B's introduced the Magnum Bonum around 1850. Cool.

For the time begin, forget about the scales...hone it up and shave with it!

**Doc226** · 07-04-2012, 08:06 AM

Those are junk, please send to me for proper disposal.

Nice blade

**paco664** · 07-04-2012, 10:15 AM

Sweet find...

**tomjr** · 07-04-2012, 01:09 PM

very nice haul.

**mdunn** · 07-04-2012, 10:18 PM

Nice!

**Bravoure** · 07-04-2012, 10:35 PM

Thanks for the info! I'm deciding if I want to have it restored and rescaled or pass on this one. I have a similar W&B that I found antiquing that I consider to be a treasure. It was my first straight and I had no idea it would be 150+ years old as well. I don't shave with a straight, so it's more of a collectors piece, but I'm not as attached to this one.

**Jporco** · 07-05-2012, 07:21 AM

Nice....I am still on the antique store/flea market hunt for a chopper.......

**BakerAndBadger** · 07-05-2012, 09:24 AM

Originally Posted by Bravoure

but I'm not as attached to this one.

Share the love, send it to me, it'll be good for your karma! I'll even rub it on my mojo stone!

**alitkty** · 07-09-2012, 06:36 AM

Interesting razor :)

**honed** · 07-09-2012, 07:01 AM

Never seen one like this before. Nice!

**Tkocloser** · 07-09-2012, 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by BakerAndBadger

Hi,
Sorry to tell you but it's one of those cheap chinese replicas that arrived in the US recently, horrible to hone and will never take an edge. The aging is done in a mixture of water buffalo manure and rice wine by a 5 year old orphan in the Hang Seng province of Manchuria. Believe it or not it started out as a Gold Dollar and some bright spark decided to convert it into a promotional item for Tom Selleck, hence the Magnum reference. The Bonum part is a frinese (french/chinese) hybrid word, originally in French it is Bon Homme, meaning "Genuinely nice fellow with a great taste in shirts".
I googled this and found references to Tom Selleck using them to cut the tip of his cigars and later on trim his 'tache.
The fact that you found this in Texas might mean it's one of his own private stock as he is an afficionado of all things yellow - Amarillo being spanish for Yellow.

If you send it to me I'll dispose of it for you in my Chinese replica razor cemetry (the bottom draw of my bedside cabinet).

Great and interesting find, hope you enjoy the honing process as I hear wedges are horrors.

Dude, you are FUNNY!

Thanks for the chuckle, that is very clever.