Help Identifying/Dating Wade & Butcher Sheffield

[Frank Shaves]

I have never seen a Wade & Butcher mark with so much space between the letters in "SHEFFIELD".

The "S" in "SHEFFIELD" is normally to the right of the middle of "A" in "WADE".

The "S" in "SHEFFIELD" in your razor is to the left of the "A" in "WADE". To the best of my knowledge, I have never seen this before. No idea what this means - if anything.

 

[Gamma]

I would guess it's later 1800s, close to when they started adding "England' to the mark, 80s/90s. Sure, it could be earlier too. It's hard to date to exact decades with these razors because all there is to rely on is conjecture and assumptions. W&B were not consistent in mfgr so there are many many anomalies out there.

Lead wedges were around into the 1900s.

I would not soak the scales in oil of any kind. Ballistol stinks so that's the last thing I'd use. Maybe some people like that smell but I don't. Soaking the scales in oil will ensure that you will be unable to reinforce or repair structural problems like delamination, glues do not want to stick to soaked oil horn. I've repaired and restored many many sets of horn scales and applying oil after the scales are fixed up is more sensible. Better to apply many light coats than to submerge them.

If it was my razor, and I wanted to preserve it in as-is condition as a family heirloom, I'd have a competent restorer disassemble it, clean it, remove the rust, reinforce the scales where necessary then wipe with a light coat of mineral oil and store in a sealed cabinet with some VCI paper in close proximity. Camphor would be good too, since it has anti-bug qualities along with anti rust properties.