Gentlemen in the eighteenth century often travelled with compact razor cases that held their personal set of shaving and dressing supplies. One such case, possibly belonging to George Washington, contained this straight razor. It bears the distinctive stamp of a long-handled curate's pipe on its shoulder, the trademark of cutler George Wostenholm of Sheffield, England. Drawing on its wealth of local iron and coal deposits, Sheffield developed into a leading manufacturing center for steel razors and knives by the end of the eighteenth century.