December 2015

a bit of fear smells good

Funny in a way that the item I spent the least on this week - about $4 - turned out to be be item I came to enjoy the most.

Received this, to me, pretty unusual Wilkinson Sword Trial razor using the Bonded cartridge system.

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Can't recall seeing a model like this before. Granted it was most likely a short lived trial offer but I thought I would have at least spotted one.

The shape is almost like a Personna injector with vents...made out of plastic

darkbulb I thought you only bought stainless?

darkbulb I thought you only bought stainless?

I'm thinking as long as I keep it in the box it won't stain ......

darkbulb I thought you only bought stainless?

I'm thinking as long as I keep it in the box it won't stain ......

'atta boy

Received these rather neat, vintage Muhle shaving brushes
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I initially though that the toy-looking on on the right would be lightweight plastic one but it turns out it's a very solid handle with quite some weight to it.

Some are maked "Made in DDR", some "Made in GDR" and one "Made in Germany"
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As far as I know, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong, the GDR and the DDR is essentially the same thing (English vs German) and existed 1949-1990 so that gives at least a rough date range.

The knots don't look half bad and for $22 for the lot it seemed like a fair deal.

Finally scored a Wilkinson Flip Top - and a nice one at that!
The flip-button under the head works very well and the head springs open without any hesitation. No scratches/dings on the handle/head. Happy, happy.

I've never actually held one and for some reason I thought it was going to be a bit 'flimsy'/lightweight but it is anything but.
The weight and feel reminds me quite a bit about the Wilkinson Sticky.

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In the small lot there was also a Wilkinson Sticky and even though I already have 2-3 of them this turned out to be my first grey bottomed one (the dark blue bottom/logo was for the US market and the grey one for the European market and rumored to be even milder).
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The dear mailman was also kind enough to drop off these two items tonight;

1) A rather nice, cased white handled Schick (L1?) razor
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2) A cased gold, Schick Pivot cartridge razor
A surpsingly nice weight to it.
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I received some AS and soaps today.
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Received my $25 razor lot that I wasn't quite sure why I bought.
Unfortunately I think I was even less sure after having looked it over in person..

Here's the lot in total:

Pic set 1
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Two brushes: Rubberset (lucite) and Opal (black).
The Rubberset brush has unfortunately some bad scratches, grooves on one side and might just be binned.
The Opal was a pleasant surprise though - solid feel and doesn't look too bad at all.
A two-sided strop. Neat wooden handle and the leather looks 'ok' apart from an area ontop of it. Potentially binable.

Bottom row: Three hair-cutting/curling(?). Ugh. Bin.
An unopened..eh....Diarrhea Remedy solution. Not really my thing but surprisingly there's actually a 'market' for old medicinal items like this. It's in great condition and heavy.

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Top row: An Iros Keen straight razor. Easy to date this one as the brand was only active 1925-26. Unfortunately it's a bit short on steel. Bin
Too bad, it has some nice details on the spine.

Bottom row: The other straight (Rochester) is in much better...but not great....condition. Scales are intact and looks like they could be horn or celluloid.
The maker is Robeson Cutlery Co and from what I could find online this would date to 1900-1920 and this brand seems to have quite the following.
There might be some hope for this one.

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Top row: A third straight razor. Columbia Cutlery Co, Worcester MA - "Extra Hollow Ground, Fully Warranted"
Nice looking razor but with an edge that has a bunch of rust and chips in it. I'm thinking bin.

Bottom row: The box included a slew (10-12) of NOS Ever Ready SE blades many in their original paper wraps.
There was also a metal blade box I've never seen before and a larger metal holder, with the same decorations on it that you can slide the blade box into.
It appears to be able to hold two of the boxes. Not sure what that is from but it's pretty dirty.

Pic set 4
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Hey, some good news. A really, really neat looking Rolls Razor, Imperial No 2.
No crack in the honing stone, leather strop in good condition, blade looks good and there is every possible piece of paperwork in the box incl. the inspection/QA note.

And then there's what I thought looked interesting in the auction listing...something a bit 'off'-looking in an Ever-Ready box.
Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a type of hoe/wedge razor I've never seen before, complete with stropping handle.
The wedge blade has a hole in it that the top of the handle goes through and then turns to secure it in place. A simple and rather elegant solution.
The razor and blade is in good condition. There are no marking on the razor itself but the blade sports the name "Torrey No. B".
A quick glance at Waits' compendium shows that it's from around 1890. The ad states that the blade can be kept in working order indefinitely so I should be able to get a shave out of it down the road

Fun trivia: The Columbia straight razor is from Worcester MA - and so is this Torrey wedge razor.

Waits:
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The razor:
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In the end, was it worth $25? I'd say so.