And here is a not very good pic that doesn't do justice to the razor restored to its former glory by Neil. It really looks as good as new. It fully vindicates the point that there is incredible value in these old razors.
And to add even more to the feeling of being connected to the past by going back to tradition and actually using something from a bygone era here is some information supplied by Neil:
"The razor is one made for Maurice Viane who had a gentleman's shop in Knightsbridge at the time of the Great War and probably up to or shortly before WW2.  His son Edgar was killed in action in Poland in 1917.  The steel came from a company called Edgar Allen & Co., who owned the Imperial Steel Works in Tinsley, Sheffield, so it is a carbon steel, Sheffield forged razor.  The Imperial works were opened in the late 1800s and the furnaces installed in 1912 were still in operation when the site closed in 1988.
I would put the age of this razor between 1930 and 1950.  It has a round point - safest to learn with - and is slightly less than full hollow ground, giving it quite a firm blade which is not as hard to get used to as the really wafer-thin hollow ground razors.  I had three of these razors and this is the best of the bunch - it is elegant but understated, it's appeal lies mainly in the steel used and the fineness of the cutting edge.  This particular example has taken a very keen edge indeed!"
Neil is now restoring for me another old razor which was being used by the father of an old friend, it goes well back to the first half of the 20th century. My friend is thrilled to bits it will be used again. Perhaps it will go on to one of my grandsons.