Newly aquired bengall

I recently acquired this Bengall on the bay. Since I am always interested in the history of my razors the inscription on the blade intrigues me.

"Made in England expressly for O.E. NEALE. MACKAY."

Googling this I found an article, from 1927. about O.E. NEALE. A business man in Makay, Australia. I was curious if the inscription could be for him or maybe a store of his.

I'm looking forward to honing this razor. I hear that Bengall razors are really smooth

Bengall are great shaving razors. They are the most popular brand of straight razor that was sold in Australia. That particular razor would have been for sale in his store. Bengall are known for branding their razors for Australian retailers. JNO Baker in Sydney and Ward Brothers in Melbourne come to mind. That's the first one I've seen for OE Neale, Mackay. I wonder how many retailers Bengall branded their razors for?

Oh my that's gorgeous! Congrats!
Maybe update us on how it shaves after she is honed up?

Nice snag!!! Yup great shaver and holds a good edge...one of my favourite travel razors I have...you will enjoy it!

Cool. That is the third Aussie state with a retailer selling branded Bengalls. This could almost become a collection of its own.

Edit:

Doing a bit of Googling of my own. Yes, it turns out OE Neale was a hair dressing and mensware store in Mackay QLD in the 30-40's. He was also into brass bands and table tennis.

https://www.questia.com/newspaper/1G1-197142052/oe-neale-helped-revive-brass-band

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/170471559

https://www.myheritage.com/research...?itemId=53923167&action=showRecord#fullscreen

There is an ad for his shop in the top right.

Cool blade, that will shave wonderfully.

Lots of Bengalls seem to end up in Australia & NZ; they seem to be rarer in the US.

never had a bad shave from a Bengal

Wonderful shave this morning with the bengell.

It was very easy to hone. I set the bevel on my corticule bout using a heavy slurry. Finished on a very hard vintage corticule water only.

This is a razor that seems to know the difference between skin and whiskers. Very smooth shave.