It also includes the part about the Aristocrat(which is a little more than twice the cost of the Milord):Not to take anything away from your lovely set and history lesson, but in the catalog the are referring to a Milford set.
1942 Gillette open comb Aristocrat
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The made or at least were still selling the Senator and Sheraton in 1940. There are ads in American Magazine Vol 129 1940 Jan - Jun Pg 9 and Vol 130 1940 Jul - Dec Pg 64 for both and the Aristocrat. By 41 they no longer show up for sale same with the open comb Aristocrat. By 3rd or 4th quarter of 40 no later than 41 the date I am going with as when they discontinued these razors. I can see an ad overlap to move discontinued inventory but not for 3 or more production quarters afterwards.
This set only proves some distributors still had excess stock or this was a special production piece they were still selling in 41 and 42. That is why I want to examine a handle on another example.
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Very nice set. I’m envious!
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!! 
R
romsitsa
It’s 1939, not 1940, the catalog was available in December of the previous year.
As the Aristocrat has the old doors but the new spider, one more point for 1939, imho.
Also interesting, that the ad shows a previous, riveted model.
Adam
As the Aristocrat has the old doors but the new spider, one more point for 1939, imho.
Also interesting, that the ad shows a previous, riveted model.
Adam
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That was most likely a stock photo, it was never meant to be an official Gillette endorsed ad since those sets were not for sale to the general public. I stated that in the beginning. Whether they were excess stock in 41 and 42 or special order from Gillette you don't keep them in the catalogs if you don't have them in stock to sell.
Here is one from 1939 for the Christmas sets. You can see what style razor is in the ad. If I could find scans of the ads from 1940 I would post them but this will suffice. If someone else wants to go to a library that has those magazines on file and get scans from the microfilm be my guest.
Life Magazine Dec. 18th 1939 pg 1
LIFE
R
romsitsa
Hello,
as you know selling a set years after production ceased, was nothing special, as it happened with Fatboys, Slims or “L’Auto” Single ring sets.
The Aristocrat shouldn’t be produced later than 1939, except the base plate was not compatible with the Senator/Regent Tech door assembly.
America Legion sets (saw three till today) have the same razor as yours, Senator/Regent type spider, but the earlier doors with no tabs to open up the head (it needs to be spinned to open).
As Senators have those tabs, logic dictates the American Legion Aristocrats were produced earlier than Senators.
Except the Aristocrat won’t accept the doors with tabs, in this case Gillette produced a single batch with the “old” machines for the Legion while produced Senators on new machines for the public.
This doesn’t sound very economical. Not mentioning, that in 1940 Gillette fully switched to Tech type base plates and a new spider while keeping the door design introduced on the Senator.
Adam
as you know selling a set years after production ceased, was nothing special, as it happened with Fatboys, Slims or “L’Auto” Single ring sets.
The Aristocrat shouldn’t be produced later than 1939, except the base plate was not compatible with the Senator/Regent Tech door assembly.
America Legion sets (saw three till today) have the same razor as yours, Senator/Regent type spider, but the earlier doors with no tabs to open up the head (it needs to be spinned to open).
As Senators have those tabs, logic dictates the American Legion Aristocrats were produced earlier than Senators.
Except the Aristocrat won’t accept the doors with tabs, in this case Gillette produced a single batch with the “old” machines for the Legion while produced Senators on new machines for the public.
This doesn’t sound very economical. Not mentioning, that in 1940 Gillette fully switched to Tech type base plates and a new spider while keeping the door design introduced on the Senator.
Adam
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