‘T. Ascher, Sheffield’ has been found stamped on razors (information and photographs courtesy of Zak Jarvis).   Their sturdy, wedge shape suggests that they were made in the early nineteenth century.   Some carry an elaborate Masonic etch; others the words ‘SUPE SILV STEEL’ [Super Silver Steel].  However, no such maker appears in Sheffield directories.  The nearest clue is the dissolution of the firm T. Ascher, Mendelson & Co in 1824.  This firm was a jeweller in Manchester and involved Isaac Ascher, Henry Mendelson, Meinhardt G. Tutzer, and Moritz Frankel.   The ‘T’, however, is not identified.  Possibly, Ascher was related to the Prussian Jewish family of wholesale jewellers, whose leading light was Isaac Gottschalk Ascher (1795-1891).   In 1832, Godfried Ascher (presumably another relation) advertised a new bazaar of ‘Parisian and Other Fancy Ornaments’ in Tudor Street in Sheffield (Sheffield Independent, 3 November 1832).