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- #21
He does.
I am glad to know that the lot found a home with a fellow B and Ber, who will appreciate the razors.
He does.
Seems like the market is picking up on vintage razors, but that there's still a ton available from sellers who are unfamiliar with the collector value of what they have.
I've been intensively searching auction and antique sites for old gillettes for the last few weeks, and what I've found is that there's a huge difference between the terminology used by those in the know and those not.
Joe Antique Dealer doesn't know what a Fat Boy is. He may be lucky to notice the "Gillette" stamp on the underside. He may call a safety razor a straight razor. Someone listing date codes or any terminology not found printed on the razor itself is "in the know" though, and will likely charge market value. If you tailor your search terms for less knowledgeable sellers, you find the killer deals.
I've acquired five vintage gillettes in the last few weeks with offers in on another five or six, and paid around ten bucks each for some nice TTO razors including a slim adjustable. No techs yet, but give me a few days
Good deal!
A lot of truth here, but a caution also. A little knowledge can be not so good. Dealers quoting date codes not really knowing can be off by 25 years, or simply confused as to the true meaning. Terms like "Fat Boy" are often applied to Slims, and even outright fraudulently used in other ads to generate search results (a horrible looking pair of '40's style Super Speeds I saw labeled as Fat Boys come to mind).
Also quite often they'll call a razor whatever it says on the case. I've seen Tech's labeled as Aristocrats, Super Speeds and others. Some even mistake a TTO for an Adjustable. And I often see a patent date quoted as a year of manufacture.
Always best to do your own research, and take their wording with (at least) a grain of salt.
I know. If I knew it was another member, I would too. It's a shame we can't know when it is someone we know.
Maybe there is a code we can come up with to stop us from bidding against other members.. Where is a computer hacker when you need one...
Actually, I think we could if we wanted to take the trouble. I'm pretty sure the code that ebay assigns bidders remains consistent throughout any given auction. In fact, I have noticed that my I.D. was the same for different auctions on more than one occassion. That's was probably a fluke though.
We would need a (private? double super-secret) thread in which we listed the auction number and our assigned bidder I.D. code.
It could be organized by ending date or week or somesuch strategy. And it wouldn't account for last minute sniping, which is a big drawback. You would basically have to just have to declare your intention to snipe an item. Not sure how that would work in real life.
Hate to burst your bubbles, but this is probably just as illegal as shill bidding.
It is collusion to artificially affect the price of an item.