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Safety Razor Acquisition Thread.

A Parat in excellent condition. Hard to find. During the last 3 years bought 2 of those from different countries, but had to return them because of bent handle and uneven gaps. This one is good.

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Another package. Was supposed to be shipped with the slim I posted Thursday. But hey it's here!

A Gillette F-1 Fatboy with case. As delivered, very grungy and looking like it was done!

An hours worth of cleaning and the Fatboy and case looks great. Still need to do a bit more to the case but still cleaned up easily.

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How were you able to clean the plastic cover to become this transparent? What cleaning tools did you use?
 
1926 Gillette Milady Decollettee
This is the first Decollettee of any type in my collection, and I added it for a very reasonable price. Serial number 742307B in a coral case with a gold-plated blade bank containing four Gillette Blues. At least one blade is 1951 W4 in shave ready condition, and I suspect the other three are the same. The case is mechanically perfect, but shows some very minor scuffing. The razor is in very good condition with one slightly bent corner tooth and some wear on the top cap. The handle, as is so often true, has cracks in it, but they are all small. This handle has three cracks in the top end and two cracks in the bottom end with one in each of the top and bottom visible only with magnification. The end "plugs" are still tight fitting though. The photos reflect a mild clean up. I might try to straighten the corner tooth myself.

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Mysterious Apollo razor, 1950's?

One of those things that just seem meant to be, as nobody else was interested (well, nobody else bid on it anyway!) in this sweet little Apollo of unknown vintage. The seller estimated 1955 but while that seems plausible I have no idea what it was based on, and I can't find a similar one anywhere online so far. Anyone recognize it? (I actually just noticed that someone posted an Apollo slant in a similar case a few posts back!)

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Regardless, it came in this attractive cream-colored plastic case, clean as a whistle, and the razor itself seems equally pristine - it may never have been used at all. It's quite light, with a hollow handle, but I can't tell if it's aluminum or just thin brass or Zamak - if the latter, and if it is in fact approaching 70 years old looking like this... well, that's pretty impressive even if it's never been used.

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The hexagonal, patterned handle looks similar to ones I've seen more commonly on other Solingen razors - branded Dovo, Merkur, and or Durex - but never with this style of head. The geometry appears somewhat Tech-ish; blade alignment is a bit of an issue, as the whole assembly is a bit loose, but once in place and tightened up it seems to hold things in place just fine.

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In fact, it has the opposite problem to the Aristocrat from my last post here - when fully tightened, it holds the blade so tightly that there is no blade exposure at all and it effectively does not shave. So one has to back it off a bit and it becomes, like some of Phoenix's recent offerings, a quasi-adjustable by way of just not quite fully tightening it (the blade is still held tight, but there is some degree of play in the mechanism, allowing for more or less blade exposure).

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I don't know if this is intentional, but in any case the hexagonal handle is a help with this, because it allows a somewhat more precise measure of how far one has turned the handle; initial forays seem to indicate that the sweet spot (for me) is two 'faces' back from fully tight, therefore 1/3 of a full turn. First shave was really good!
 
Mysterious Apollo razor, 1950's?

One of those things that just seem meant to be, as nobody else was interested (well, nobody else bid on it anyway!) in this sweet little Apollo of unknown vintage. The seller estimated 1955 but while that seems plausible I have no idea what it was based on, and I can't find a similar one anywhere online so far. Anyone recognize it? (I actually just noticed that someone posted an Apollo slant in a similar case a few posts back!)

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Regardless, it came in this attractive cream-colored plastic case, clean as a whistle, and the razor itself seems equally pristine - it may never have been used at all. It's quite light, with a hollow handle, but I can't tell if it's aluminum or just thin brass or Zamak - if the latter, and if it is in fact approaching 70 years old looking like this... well, that's pretty impressive even if it's never been used.

View attachment 1567487

The hexagonal, patterned handle looks similar to ones I've seen more commonly on other Solingen razors - branded Dovo, Merkur, and or Durex - but never with this style of head. The geometry appears somewhat Tech-ish; blade alignment is a bit of an issue, as the whole assembly is a bit loose, but once in place and tightened up it seems to hold things in place just fine.

View attachment 1567488

In fact, it has the opposite problem to the Aristocrat from my last post here - when fully tightened, it holds the blade so tightly that there is no blade exposure at all and it effectively does not shave. So one has to back it off a bit and it becomes, like some of Phoenix's recent offerings, a quasi-adjustable by way of just not quite fully tightening it (the blade is still held tight, but there is some degree of play in the mechanism, allowing for more or less blade exposure).

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I don't know if this is intentional, but in any case the hexagonal handle is a help with this, because it allows a somewhat more precise measure of how far one has turned the handle; initial forays seem to indicate that the sweet spot (for me) is two 'faces' back from fully tight, therefore 1/3 of a full turn. First shave was really good!
I haven't found much on the Apollo razors either. There are a few good threads on this forum, but most concentrate on the Mikron adjustables. On my two less known Apollos I have only been able to see that other examples exist. Your handle looks familiar, but I can't recall where it turned up.
 
Mid-1950's Aristocrat Junior? Rocket Parat in a fancy case?

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Bit of a mystery set here, if indeed it is a set and not a 'frankenset', as it were. Bought online from a seller here in Germany, who said it had been her father's. Lizard-pattern leatherette case which suggests an Aristocrat or Junior set (58? Coronation?) but the razor looks a whole lot like a Rocket Parat. Having said that, I've seen pictures of razors referred to as Aristocrat Juniors that look very similar, and read that some late-model juniors carry the same patent numbers and II markings... but I've not managed to find a picture of one in this kind of case.

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What could it be? Is it just a Parat that found its way into one of these cases along the road somewhere? Or was Gillette simply selling the Parat, in such a case, as an Aristocrat Junior in Germany in the mid-1950's? The very German blade case (so big!) that also fits neatly into the case suggests the whole set might be original, but it would be fun to verify that.

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Anyway, it needed rescuing and nobody else seemed interested, and the starting price was considerably more than fair. It looked a bit down at heel when it arrived (and in the listing photos), but it cleaned up brilliantly and now looks basically like new! Maybe the smoothest TTO mechanism I've encountered yet - unbelievable.

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And the shave? As close to perfect as I can imagine. I am beginning to understand why Gillette felt the need to pivot and get everybody hooked on disposables and cartridges - dominating the market with large numbers of elegant, nearly-indestructible, essentially perfect razors turned out to be a losing strategy, because how do you sell anything new?
 
There is a 77 currently listed on Darwin Shaving dot com in the vintage section. In France, looks in good shape, not cheap but probably fairly priced given the scarcity... I have no direct experience with the vendor at all (and I don't think there's any direct link with the original, legendary, English manufacturer) but might be worth a look if you're still looking... I am tempted by it myself but not currently playing in that price bracket.
Thanks a lot for your advice. Have seen that one on their website, looks nice. Currently waging if the price is reasonable, still searching around but the offer is scanty.
Bests !
 
When buying vintage, it is important to have the send back option. Frequently sellers hide faults, in words or pictures. Considering the steep prices asked, don't rush in to one, but make sure you get what you think you are getting.
Thanks a lot for the advice. Agree on being patient and not running into the very first deal.
Bests !
 
OK you guys are as bad influences and maybe worse than my buddies on the watch forum. I don’t think I have been a member of B&B for a month yet and I have inbound a Schick G and another M, a Perl Flexi and a new to me Progress (which I added to an order of shave soap to get free shipping). Oh I just realized my Supply black injector probably won’t fit the Schicks so I just order some blades from Amazon. Now don’t get me wrong. I am not bragging but giving fair warning that I will be throwing all of you under the bus when my wife starts seeing the packages show up.

Pics to follow.
 
Out of the project/junk drawer comes this.

Gillette Reissue open comb. Had this head for a while and what was left of it's handle, split in two and missing the bottom.
The handle I used is unknown. Had a very scary looking aluminum open comb on it. Bottom knob on the handle was pretty beat up with nicks in it's edges and very dull looking.

Chucked the handle in a drill press and sanded out what I could of the nicks and dings then finished it off with a polish. Turned out looking real good.

Mounted the head, Kind of like how it turned out. The handle has some weight to it and feels good in the hand.

Going to give it a test run this weekend. Will be the first open comb razor I have ever used!

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