When I acquired a beautiful Hoffritz slant razor I ran into a complete brick wall in trying to determine its vintage due to the lack of serial numbers and paucity of reliable information online. Dovo, which owns Merkur, seems to have published nothing which would help the Merkur collector.
Having now a acquired a lovely gold Progress I'm looking at that same brick wall and hoping for some help in knocking it down.
Based on all the previous threads here on B&B and other research I could find, here's what I know:
According to Dovo staff, the Progress was introduced in 1955. As can be seen from this 1956 catalog entry, the early Progress featured a plastic guard plate matching the cream plastic knob.
I don't know how long this version was produced, or when distribution by Hoffritz may have begun. Here is a Hoffritz version spotted in the wild a few years ago.
What I know is by 1978, and perhaps substantially earlier, the plastic guard plate was lost, while the rest of the design appears unchanged. This is the version I have. It weighs 81.5g
According to Dovo, this version was produced through 1985, when "Germany" was replaced by "West Germany". The simple font was also changed.
Prior to this time the instructions for the razor indicated "Made in West Germany" but not the razor itself. As a matter of related interest, it was also in 1985 that Merkur production of the Futur began.
Presumably, following unification from 1990 the printing was again changed to say "Germany".
Hoffritz ceased distribution of Merkur in 1992.
The current version of the Progress, no longer available in gold or nickel, features another modified font, unpainted numbers, and a smaller Merkur logo now contained in a circle.
The shaft within the handle is now all metal, replacing plastic at some point in the razor's evolution.
Most recently, new molds were produced and minor cosmetic changes introduced to the alignment indicators.
That my friend is all I've got. If anyone has a Progress of any vintage predating the current version I would love to see photos, and any help in filling in dating info would benefit all Progress collectors going forward.
Thanks.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
Having now a acquired a lovely gold Progress I'm looking at that same brick wall and hoping for some help in knocking it down.
Based on all the previous threads here on B&B and other research I could find, here's what I know:
According to Dovo staff, the Progress was introduced in 1955. As can be seen from this 1956 catalog entry, the early Progress featured a plastic guard plate matching the cream plastic knob.
I don't know how long this version was produced, or when distribution by Hoffritz may have begun. Here is a Hoffritz version spotted in the wild a few years ago.
What I know is by 1978, and perhaps substantially earlier, the plastic guard plate was lost, while the rest of the design appears unchanged. This is the version I have. It weighs 81.5g
According to Dovo, this version was produced through 1985, when "Germany" was replaced by "West Germany". The simple font was also changed.
Prior to this time the instructions for the razor indicated "Made in West Germany" but not the razor itself. As a matter of related interest, it was also in 1985 that Merkur production of the Futur began.
Presumably, following unification from 1990 the printing was again changed to say "Germany".
Hoffritz ceased distribution of Merkur in 1992.
The current version of the Progress, no longer available in gold or nickel, features another modified font, unpainted numbers, and a smaller Merkur logo now contained in a circle.
The shaft within the handle is now all metal, replacing plastic at some point in the razor's evolution.
Most recently, new molds were produced and minor cosmetic changes introduced to the alignment indicators.
That my friend is all I've got. If anyone has a Progress of any vintage predating the current version I would love to see photos, and any help in filling in dating info would benefit all Progress collectors going forward.
Thanks.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
