Review English Wilkinson Sword - Part II

SeanC

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Continued from here: https://atgshaving.com/threads/english-wilkinson-sword-part-i.14451/


This Is The End - 2000

The Wilkinson factory in Cramlington, England was closed in 2000 and production transferred to Solingen in Germany - https://www.independentpharmacist.co.uk/a-close-shave-with-history

The origin of blades from this period is notoriously difficult to identify



These are three different variants of blades which all look identical unopened. Going from left to right:

1. States 'Made in England' on the blade and in the circle on the back of the tuck



These are definitely made in England

2. The blade is completely blank and whilst there is a circle on the back of the tuck, it contains no country of origin (perfectly legal by now for products of EU origin being sold in the EU). They do however have the same paper wrappers as 1. and shave very similar, so I class these as probably made in England.

3. Neither circle or country of origin on the tuck and the writing on the blade is very different to 1. and the wrappers are more of a greaseproof type paper. They don't shave as well as either of the above. I class these as almost certainly made in Solingen, Germany



For reference, this pack with the number 5 below the name Wilkinson Sword is definitely a Solingen product.







This pack which initially looks like a Solingen product is in fact made in England and the wrapped blades are the same as 1. above







This very similar pack is in fact from Solingen and the wrapped blades are the same as 3. above

In short buying the later Wilkinson Sword blades which feature a large blade count number at the top of the pack insert is a bit of a lottery as are the carded variants. The only way to establish any certainty is to see the backs of the tucks - Circle = England, Blank = Germany or of course by looking at the blade itself

The Numbering System

A question raised frequently is what do the numbers on the pack inserts mean:



Here we have 004/175



004/159



004/100



004/048 on the front insert and 004/214 on the reminder card

Although there a few outliers, generally speaking from the introduction of the 'New' in 1971, front inserts are numbered 004/0** or 004/1**and reminder cards (these were dropped by the 'Diagonal' era) are numbered 004/2**









Likewise, hanging cards used the numbering sequence of 013/***

So therefore in a nutshell, these numeric references refer to the piece of paper or card they are printed on. Each blade variant can have multiple front inserts or hanging cards with different references.

Continued here: https://atgshaving.com/threads/english-wilkinson-sword-part-iii.14453/
 
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