A Conundrum Of Sorts

[razor_n_blade]

I was just looking at this 'for sale' thread, and the seller mentions that the original razor has "split carriers", which confused me at first, but I looked at the one on Mr. Razor's site, and I believe he is referring to the lack of end caps?

Anyway, I have one of these no end cap razors that I picked up in a lot a while back, and I really never thought too much about it until now, so I was taking a look at it and noticed something peculiar. Now, it was my understanding that no Gillette razor made prior to WWII had end caps, so my no end caps "Regent Tech" should be a 1940-41 model, right? But, and correct me if I'm wrong, I thought the razors made prior to WWII also had "PAT. NO'S ON PACKAGE" stamped on the handles, and it wasn't until after the war that Gillette stamped that on the base plates. Look at the picture and tell me if it makes sense to you. The razor in the middle is exactly like the one pictured above from Mr. Razor's site.

 

[cutting_edge]

You are right about your razor. I meant "end caps", which describes the razor that at one point in time fit into the Regent Tech case. Lack of direct evidence as to waht the Regent Tech was as a NOS, or any adverts to that effect, is frustrating. The Regent Tech razor after the war "evolved" into being an Aristocrat. There were several interesting threads on this topic.

 

[cutting_edge]

See here:
Regent Tech thread

 

[razor_n_blade]

I'm certainly on board with the thinking that the gold Aristocrat type razor is correct for the Regent Tech case, but the stamping of "PAT. NO'S ON PACKAGE" on the base plate of a no end cap razor is throwing me for a huge loop. I know Gillette made some "parts are parts" razors, but this one is really strange.

 

[texbilly]

My thoughts...

Once the Gillette design teams decided to go with its scalloped handle banding design - soon to be on Aristocrat, President, Diplomat and in contrast to the smooth design of the Ranger Tech and so many others - there was no practical way of stamping this information on the handle. So, production of these new razors ensued with no patent information anywhere on the razor until Gillette re-tooled their equipment and eventually produced razors with the patent information stamped onto the base plate. A mix would be a possible result of this transition. So, your razor could be one of the pre-war razors produced in this transition. Most of what I've read seems to confirm the Regent Tech set was only marketed before the war so I think it's unlikely RT sets would have been sold after the war.

I've never seen one, but is it possible the first Aristocrats of this design had no end caps (produced while Gillette burned off pre-war inventory)?

By the way, here's my set - my razor has no patent data on the base plate....

 

[razor_n_blade]

Once the Gillette design teams decided to go with its scalloped handle banding design - soon to be on Aristocrat, President, Diplomat and in contrast to the smooth design of the Ranger Tech and so many others - there was no practical way of stamping this information on the handle. So, production of these new razors ensued with no patent information anywhere on the razor until Gillette re-tooled their equipment and eventually produced razors with the patent information stamped onto the base plate. A mix would be a possible result of this transition. So, your razor could be one of the pre-war razors produced in this transition. Most of what I've read seems to confirm the Regent Tech set was only marketed before the war so I think it's unlikely RT sets would have been sold after the war.

This sounds extremely logical, and is probably close to the truth.

 

[cutting_edge]

My thoughts...

Once the Gillette design teams decided to go with its scalloped handle banding design - soon to be on Aristocrat, President, Diplomat and in contrast to the smooth design of the Ranger Tech and so many others - there was no practical way of stamping this information on the handle. So, production of these new razors ensued with no patent information anywhere on the razor until Gillette re-tooled their equipment and eventually produced razors with the patent information stamped onto the base plate. A mix would be a possible result of this transition. So, your razor could be one of the pre-war razors produced in this transition. Most of what I've read seems to confirm the Regent Tech set was only marketed before the war so I think it's unlikely RT sets would have been sold after the war.

I've never seen one, but is it possible the first Aristocrats of this design had no end caps (produced while Gillette burned off pre-war inventory)?

By the way, here's my set - my razor has no patent data on the base plate....

Makes a lot of sense, we can definitely make that a "working hypothesis". Very nice set you have got there- the case is as good as they ever come!

 

[texbilly]

Makes a lot of sense, we can definitely make that a "working hypothesis". Very nice set you have got there- the case is as good as they ever come!

Thank you, Sir! Perhaps I don't need to twist your or razor_n_blade's arm: the Regent Tech case has to be the coolest case ever manufactured by Gillette! The minute I saw mine, it jumped to the top of my list of favorite sets.