What is the difference between an early and a late Wardonia?

The spacing of the guide posts on the plate. The earlier construction uses posts wider than a usual double-edge razor, the later one uses posts closer together, and the change is placed at 1933 by the source, with a transitional period around it.

The maker's archive

Wardonia razors.

Wardonia is the one safety razor in this archive whose typology gives a direction in time. The key is the distance between the guide posts on the plate: the posts begin wider than a usual double-edge razor and switch to closer than usual. There is no year on the razor, and the transition between the two constructions is the dating evidence.

Country: UK
Active since
Coverage: 1929–1935 · 1 code systems
Dating tier: Codes only
In the archive: 0 series · 1 code systems · 2 models
Years documented: 1929–1935

Eras

1929–1933

Wider posts

The earliest construction carries guide posts further apart than usual, and the luxury Walnut set belongs to this era.

1933 onwards

Narrower posts

The switch to posts closer together marks the change, and the Devon belongs after it; enlarged holes in the plate mark a transitional period in the middle.

What dates this maker

The distance between the guide posts — wider than usual before 1933, narrower than usual after it.
The diameter of the holes in the plate, which marks the transitional period of about 1930 to 1935.
The model and the set — the Walnut set before the change, the Devon after it.
The blade type, since the razors take proprietary blades.

Watch out

The end of production is not established in the sources, so the typology has a beginning and a middle and no end.
The method comes from a forum analysis with dated conclusions, so it is a direction of travel rather than a year.
A Wardonia without its proprietary blade is still identifiable, but a blade swapped from another maker says nothing about the date.

2 Wardonia models are catalogued with their production years, specs and safety notes.