(This post was last modified: 02-02-2016, 08:17 PM by beamon.
Edit Reason: spelling
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Surprised you haven't received anything on your question,
1morepasswill. I'll take a shot at it, but it's from a very hazy memory and I've not researched it at all.
Weren't the English made 'Swords' the original and weren't they the 'Swords' against which all the rest of the 'Swords' made in other places, today, are measured? If that is true, I remember using 'Swords' when they first came out, and they were, indeed, the best blade I had yet tried, and were acclaimed by nearly every pundit. They dislodged the then current Gillette Blue Blades to a lesser spot on the quality ladder. If all of my recollection is correct, that would put them at around the time of the $1.95 Gillette Adjustable Razor's (Fatboy) introduction or circa 1959!
A little legwork with Google/Bing and searching other boards should turn up the history of the "Wilkie" and make for some interesting reading.
Does Mean I Must Buy High End Shaving Gear?
--Roger--