Safety Razor Acquisition Thread.

[KeenDogg]

View attachment 762868 Thank you Sir! God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

Looks like it made it home! Looks great, Tony.

 

[KeenDogg]

Picked up a couple of Superspeeds yesterday at a not-so-local antique store. A B4 1956 Blue Tip, and a W3 1951 Black Tip, both with aluminum handles. Both were pretty cruddy, and have cleaned up pretty nice.

Of particular interest is the Black Tip, which I believe, is one of the elusive "Tan Tips." From the info I've garnered on this forum, these were the result of a miscolored batch of knobs received from an external vendor, and back in the era in which these were made, since the only thing wrong was the color, they were used, instead of thrown out. This decision makes sense to me, since Gillette had opted on aluminum or steel handles for this line of razors, as brass was either too hard to come by, or too expensive (or both), so, it wouldn't make sense to waste money throwing out an entire batch of knobs because they weren't the right color. Brand new, I suppose my knob was the lighter tan color, but over time, it has aged and darkened into the nice amber color you see in the pictures, much like an authentic butterscotch brush handle.

How rare are these Tan Tips or Brown Tips? I would expect that several thousand were made, but just how common are they today? Yes, I guess I'd like to think that I have something quite rare and valuable, but the monetary value is secondary to me, as I haven't been collecting these to sell.

I'll be glad when Fatboy February is over, so I can try these out!
The first pic is before I cleaned them up - yes, the razors are in my wife's new to her vintage Pyrex baking dish!!
View attachment 762828 View attachment 762829 View attachment 762830 View attachment 762831

Nice scores! @mgbbrown may be able to answer your question or maybe a perusal through the Superspeed thread sticky in this section may give you some more info.
Kindly,
Adam

 

[nikonNUT]

Great scores, everyone! I'll be living vicariously through y'all for a while! Looks a trip to Cali is on the horizon...

 

[mgbbrown]

Thank you Adam! Yes indeed! It rests fittingly on an unused box of Lifebuoy Soap in my Super Speed shave den drawer in our master bedroom bathroom. Lifebuoy was a contract soap available to all branches of the service during the War, favored for the clean feeling carbolic acid that it contained, and was certainly used for shaving in wartime and later upon their return home.

Tipster; Yours is a Black Tip Super Speed that has experienced quite a bit of UV exposure in its day to cause that type of discoloration from the original black Bakelite. I have encountered it quite often in salvaging MGB bits from early versions which featured Bakelite steering wheel horn push nacelles or mounts. Mine is a W3 example, produced during the third quarter of 1951. My guess is that Gillette used a supply of the tan TTO knobs as a stopgap from a secondary supplier to keep the assembly lines running, or had a supply of these on hand as a potential variant, as they also had a brass tipped version in production for a brief period in the second quarter of 1951 when this Super Speed type first appeared. Great score Sir! God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown

 

[ronweston]

My newest acquisition arrived yesterday: the Asylum Evolution.

 

[KeenDogg]

View attachment 762962

My newest acquisition arrived yesterday: the Asylum Evolution.

Saaaaaweeeeeeet!

 

[ronweston]

Saaaaaweeeeeeet!

Thank you, Adam.

 

[KeenDogg]

Thank you, Adam.

You bet! Have you tried it yet? This is one I'm curious about.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[ronweston]

You bet! Have you tried it yet? This is one I'm curious about.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

Yes, I shaved with it this afternoon. I put a review up in the thread about the Asylum Evolution:

Bit the bullet and ordered a Asylum Evolution DE Razor

I'm pretty happy with its performance.

 

[Sdm84]

Antique store find- I THINK it is a 1941 Milord? Anyone confirm?

It was in rough shape very gunky but cleaned up really nice. The lady probably would have asked more than $7 for it if it looked like this thank goodness there are a few places that still just pass along the razors without jacking up the prices to ridiculousness...

 

[lambretto]

From Italy: Cusio

 

[nemo]

There is one razor you don't see often! Comb plate looks like a pretty thin stamping.

From Italy: Cusio

 

[lambretto]

There is one razor you don't see often! Comb plate looks like a pretty thin stamping.

Yes it's correct. The comb plate is thin and stamped. A cheap construction.

 

[KeenDogg]

Antique store find- I THINK it is a 1941 Milord? Anyone confirm?

It was in rough shape very gunky but cleaned up really nice. The lady probably would have asked more than $7 for it if it looked like this thank goodness there are a few places that still just pass along the razors without jacking up the prices to ridiculousness...

Very nice! I think it may be a 40 Millord Tech. I'm not an expert though. Enjoy that one!

 

[BradWorld]

Very nice! I think it may be a 40 Millord Tech. I'm not an expert though. Enjoy that one!

Pretty sure it's a 41. I'm not an expert by any means. If it were silver it'd be a 41 Ranger Tech.

 

[KeenDogg]

This is the one I was thinking of. I see I misspelled "Milord" as usual in the earlier post.

Is this it?

Kindly,
Adam

 

[Sdm84]

That looks like it! Thanks Adam! @BradWorld my heart skipped a beat when I saw it I thought it WAS a ranger tech until I realized it was gold plated. It is still beautiful though

 

[Dools]

My Lord, that's a nice razor.....

 

[joeyboy]

So I bought a Rockwell 6s yesterday. Excited to try it. Read great things about it. Can't wait for it to arrive. I have been going back and forth on this for a while.

 

[Sdm84]

So I bought a Rockwell 6s yesterday. Excited to try it. Read great things about it. Can't wait for it to arrive. I have been going back and forth on this for a while.

Great choice! Among modern razors it enjoys a stellar reputation. Don't forget to share the moment with us and let us know how it shaves!