WOW!! Stunning razor with wonderful history!! 
1928 Gillette New Improved de luxe model (“Hermann Köhl” engraved type)
- Thread starter Northstonehill
- Start date
I'm one of those who watched the auction... The seller has other articles (non shaving stuff) from South Germany... Seem to be that someone passed away and his belongings are now at the bay.
If I could stumble upon a vintage set as beautiful as this that also just happened to be engraved with my initials (B. M.), I wouldn't hesitate to break out the credit card and get ready to make installment payments
I wonder how many were produced. I wish there was some type of registry to know for sure but was curious if it came from Europe. I thought of this person almost immediately this morning and thought it would be really interesting if it was being sold in Europe. Razors get around but still, very interesting.
I don’t want to assume and it would be a huge jump but there is a BM that had ties to Germany before and during WW2 and would have had the cash to drop that on a razor in 1928.
Messygoon
Abandoned By Gypsies.
Ummm… ah… wow…
If what I think you’re thinking is true and a connection found, the significance and value of this particular razor is sky high.
- Thread starter
- #26
Adam, Steve, Dan, Andrew, BigJ, Tony everyone - thanks so much for your appreciative comments!
@THall: Apologies Tony I’m thick, who are you thinking of here? The razor was acquired in Munich so it would not be that Italian dude
@THall: Apologies Tony I’m thick, who are you thinking of here? The razor was acquired in Munich so it would not be that Italian dude
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Adam, Steve, Dan, Andrew, BigJ, Tony everyone - thanks so much for your appreciative comments!
@THall: Apologies Tony I’m thick, who are you thinking of here? The razor was acquired in Munich so it would not be that Italian dude
Far fetched but I thought of him first. That Italian dude was very very close with that German dude a bit later and traveled extensively to Germany. He was prime minister in the late 20s. Not impossible for his razor, if it was his, to end up in Germany.
It makes for a good story even if it isn't "that Italian dude"
It makes for a good story even if it isn't "that Italian dude"
I did some searching online and sure enough, a Blank engraved razor appears to have been completed for that Italian dude with the initials of BM. Could be just an interesting coincidence but again, really not hard for a razor of his to end up in Germany, especially Munich considering his close friends later on before his “passing”. $1200.00 USD adjusted for inflation now, a lot of cash for a shaving tool in 1928.
I obtained this information from gilletteadjustable.com.
I have no connection to the seller here, just spent one of my baby leave days caring for my newborn daughter with a day long curiosity mission to try and find someone with the initials of BM with a chunk of disposable income in 1928. I thought about the JP Morgan family also, but no immediate family members I could find with a first name beginning with B.
Lefonque
Even more clueless than you
Thanks for your comments. Really interesting and stunning.
- Thread starter
- #31
Thanks again Tony so much for your interest and investigation work on this - this is amazing info that I here take the liberty to quote in full (hope this is allowed, otherwise moderators please remove):
The services of F. C. Blank were reserved for the best clientele. The standard customer would get a stock design with a monogram, and such work would be performed by one of the many journeyman engravers at Gillette. It is believed that the surcharge to procure F. C. Blank's services from Gillette was ten times the retail amount. So, in 1912 Gillette would have charged $500 to an upscale client for a similarly engraved masterpiece set and wait times would have been many months.
Some of F.C. Blank's engraved razors include work for the following: US PresidentsTheodore Roosevelt, Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge and William Howard Taft; Kings of Sweden, Siam, Spain, Italy, Jugoslavia, Denmark and the Belgians; Foreign Presidents of Cuba, Mexico, Poland, Columbia, Brazil and Costa Rica; and other Dignitaries such as HRH Edward - Prince of Wales, General John J. Pershing, Benito Mussolini and Pope Pius XI not to mention Governors, Mayors, prominent business leaders John D. Rockefeller and Charles M. Schwab and celebrities.
An example of his masterful engraving skills, F.C. Blank wins the Grand Prize at the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair (Panama-Pacific Exposition) for his engraving of an old type Gillette razor.
Have to say though that I don’t believe this is an old old fascist pre-owned razor
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Thanks again Tony so much for your interest and investigation work on this - this is amazing info that I here take the liberty to quote in full (hope this is allowed, otherwise moderators please remove):
The services of F. C. Blank were reserved for the best clientele. The standard customer would get a stock design with a monogram, and such work would be performed by one of the many journeyman engravers at Gillette. It is believed that the surcharge to procure F. C. Blank's services from Gillette was ten times the retail amount. So, in 1912 Gillette would have charged $500 to an upscale client for a similarly engraved masterpiece set and wait times would have been many months.
Some of F.C. Blank's engraved razors include work for the following: US PresidentsTheodore Roosevelt, Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge and William Howard Taft; Kings of Sweden, Siam, Spain, Italy, Jugoslavia, Denmark and the Belgians; Foreign Presidents of Cuba, Mexico, Poland, Columbia, Brazil and Costa Rica; and other Dignitaries such as HRH Edward - Prince of Wales, General John J. Pershing, Benito Mussolini and Pope Pius XI not to mention Governors, Mayors, prominent business leaders John D. Rockefeller and Charles M. Schwab and celebrities.
An example of his masterful engraving skills, F.C. Blank wins the Grand Prize at the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair (Panama-Pacific Exposition) for his engraving of an old type Gillette razor.
Have to say though that I don’t believe this is an old old fascist pre-owned razor
He publicly met with you know who in Munich, Germany in 1937, 1938 (Infamous Munich Agreement) and 1940. Was probably there privately more than this.
Yes, very remote possibility this one is his but his Blank engraved razor ended up somewhere nonetheless.
I haven’t found any German possibilities yet with the initials of BM for that time period. I’ll keep looking. Kind of fun.
I found this online. Doesn’t solve the mystery but an interesting side bar:
www.giulianogolfieri.com
Giuliano Golfieri | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree
Drone Industry Professional, AI Tutor, Novel Author
www.giulianogolfieri.com
Hey Peter, beautiful razor. I was taking to my wife about about your find last night, while I was still talking to her, my phone dinged. She had sent me a text with a link about a collector, John H. Wright (1906 -1990). Among other things, he had a razor in his collection that sounds like yours except it was the full set. You might be able to dig deeper to see what happened to it after he died. To me though, I think it would be unlikely that the set was separated especially knowing whose it was. I'll PM you the link in case it's not legal to put it here. Below is pretty much all it says though. Good luck.
Benito Mussolini shaving kit: Gillette safety razor in leather case with initials "BM" under wreath on outside; gold plated pieces include 1 razor, 2 talc shakers, 1 razor blade holder; all have initials "BM"
Benito Mussolini shaving kit: Gillette safety razor in leather case with initials "BM" under wreath on outside; gold plated pieces include 1 razor, 2 talc shakers, 1 razor blade holder; all have initials "BM"
I found this online. Doesn’t solve the mystery but an interesting side bar:
Giuliano Golfieri | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree
Drone Industry Professional, AI Tutor, Novel Author
I read that also. It sounds more like the barber was using a Straight Razors though. History could have been changed with one slip.. It was an interesting read.
- Thread starter
- #36
Thanks so much for this Mike. This is extremely fascinating even though I sincerely don’t believe that this is the same razor, just as you are saying.
But just for the heck of it I have now written the Woodson Research Center to ask them to confirm that “their” razor set is still in their possession.
Will let you know if I receive any updates. Please thank your wife from me on the great detective work
R
romsitsa
Don’t want to ruin the party, but we know how Mussolinis presentation set looked like.
Peters razor is part of a De luxe (standard engraving with custom monograms), not a presentation set (part custom engraving and monogram).
Peters razor is part of a De luxe (standard engraving with custom monograms), not a presentation set (part custom engraving and monogram).
I just read further that Blank’s personal engravings cost much more than the standard engraving with monogram. Unless I misunderstood what I read, a Personal Blank engraved razor would have actually cost about $500.00 USD in 1928 or about $8000.00 in today’s USD.
Funny to think about but maybe he landed Mussolini’s travel razor left during one of his trips to Munich. If he loved his razor, it is possible he wanted to leave the more expensive one back home.
R
romsitsa
While presentation sets were custom made, so producing them did cost much more than the “regular” high end sets, these were gifts from Gillette, not sold to the recipients.
While 75 USD sounds much, there were many thousands even in Germany who could afford such a razor, it was and is a pretty big country with a pretty good economy and industry.
While 75 USD sounds much, there were many thousands even in Germany who could afford such a razor, it was and is a pretty big country with a pretty good economy and industry.
- Thread starter
- #40
Just to finalize the theory on this being Benito Mussolini’s razor:
I contacted Woodson Research Center in Texas which alledgedly holds the Gillette razor of Benito Mussolini as part of the John H. Wright U.S. Civil War and related ephemera collection, 1838-1936 MS 061:
https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/rice
They kindly responded that they do still hold the razor and even supplied a picture (below). Very interestingly it seems to be an identical razor…
I contacted Woodson Research Center in Texas which alledgedly holds the Gillette razor of Benito Mussolini as part of the John H. Wright U.S. Civil War and related ephemera collection, 1838-1936 MS 061:
https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/rice
They kindly responded that they do still hold the razor and even supplied a picture (below). Very interestingly it seems to be an identical razor…
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