A blade of this kind, but with a loop instead of a tang, and a hole at the base of the blade as well as one near the bottom at the notch, was found at Deurne,[781] Guelderland, and is in the Leyden Museum.
The only remaining form of razor which has to be noticed is that of which a representation is given of the actual size in Fig. 275.
This instrument was found at Kinleith,[782] near Currie, Edinburgh, and has been described and commented on by Dr. John Alexander Smith. The blade, besides being perforated in an artistic manner and having a ring at the end of the handle, is of larger dimensions than usual with instruments of this kind. The metal of which it is composed consists of copper 92·97 per cent., tin 7·03 (with a trace of lead).
Fig. 276.—Nidau.
It affords the only instance of a razor of this shape having been found in the British Isles. The form much more nearly approaches one of not uncommon occurrence on the Continent than any other British example, and Dr. Smith has illustrated this by the accompanying figure of a razor from the Steinberg, near Nidau,[783] on the Lake of Bienne (Fig. 276). I have a razor of nearly the same form from the Seine at Paris, and others have been found in various parts of France.[784]
The nearest in character to Fig. 275 is perhaps one found in the hoard of Notre-Dame d’Or,[785] and preserved in the museum at Poitiers. Instead of the blade being a single crescent, it consists of two penannular concentric blades with a plain midrib connecting them, which has a ring at the external end. An instrument with the blade formed of a single crescent was found at the same time.
A German example is in the Museum of the Deutsche Gesellschaft, at Leipzig.
In the next chapter I shall treat of those blades which appear to be weapons rather than tools.