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American Safety Razor Dating Chart - Gem, Ever Ready, Kampfe Star

Here is a Gem 1914 open comb set.
gem1914a.jpg gem1914b.jpg gem1914c.jpg gem1914d.jpg
 
An absolute treasure trove.
I thought this would be great as a web page, so I took the liberty to give it a shot and come up with a proof of concept:
razors.click - ASR Timeline

The idea is to have at least one image per model for easy identification, but getting new images or permissions for existing ones will be a task in itself.
Friendly comments and images welcome :)
wow, very user friendly timeline!
 
Awesome work @riverrun! That will definitely be a valuable resource for me and many others. May I suggest checking out

The Association of Lather Catchers: TALC

thread (if you haven't already). You may be able to get images for some of those early razors, and your site will be of interest there for sure.

Don't know why my link looks like that and don't know how to fix it either lol
 
An absolute treasure trove.
I thought this would be great as a web page, so I took the liberty to give it a shot and come up with a proof of concept:
razors.click - ASR Timeline

The idea is to have at least one image per model for easy identification, but getting new images or permissions for existing ones will be a task in itself.
Friendly comments and images welcome :)

:thumbsup::a17:
 

Flintstone65

Imagining solutions for imaginary problems
Awesome work @riverrun! That will definitely be a valuable resource for me and many others. May I suggest checking out

The Association of Lather Catchers: TALC

thread (if you haven't already). You may be able to get images for some of those early razors, and your site will be of interest there for sure.

Don't know why my link looks like that and don't know how to fix it either lol
Your link looks perfect to me -- just a little on the small side :302:
 
Questions:
The chart says:

1897 Reichard and Scheuber leave Kampfe.
- Agreed on Reichard, but is there any evidence that Scheuber worked for them?
Waits claims/assumes it in "Before Gilette", but why? I have seen no evidence.

1903 J. Reichard and A. Scheuber found the Yankee company
- Didn't they found the Reichard & Scheuber Mfg. Co first and then rename it Yankee Co. later?
Or was it the other way round?
Waits said:
Reichard, Kampfe employee founded The Gem Cutlery Company in 1898 and, with August William Scheuber, the Reichard & Scheuber (R&S) Manufacturing Co. in the spring of 1903. ... It was briefly re-named the Yankee Co. and in 1905 became Ever-Ready Co.
and:
Waits said:
By November 1903 the YankeeCo. had become Reichard & Scheuber Mfg. Co., 66-68 Duane St., New York, N.Y.
I wish he would make up his mind.
 
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And one last issue:
I don't believe that the Star Safety Razor Company was formed in 1875.
I can find no evidence for that claim and there seems to be not a single Star razor that can be dated before 1880.
Waits claims 1875 for the production of Star Safety Razors and that in 1860 Kampfe Bros. were making cutlery.
Thing is - in 1860 the brothers were 5, 7 and 9 years old and lived in Germany.
In short: no evidence of Kampfe Bros or Star razors before 1880.
(Ads from 1905 claiming 30 years in business are ads - not documents)
 
Last year for gem razors I could find is 1980. Which style of contour II razor I don't know right now. The contour II came in 2 distinct handle styles.
gem1980ad.jpg

gem1980ad1.jpg
 
One handle had a brushed stainless steel insert and the other looked like a machine turned insert. I don’t know which one was last, but I suspect it was the imitation machine turned insert.
 
Great chart! It'd be cool if we could help attach or link pictures of the various models into the chart as well I think. Or is that done somewhere?
 
Wow
There is so much info out there for these razors.
It makes me think to try out one of my lather catchers and Feather blade combos again.
 
h/t to @jmudrick for posting this originally on the boards here. Ad is from 1949.

Knowing this then the Bullet Tip can be classified as 2 distinct razors depending where in the production run it was made since they will shave different. I can say that is the case having shaved with the guiding eye and plastic knob versions.

View attachment 982956
Either they are referring to the same razor as above here 1948 or there are 3 distinct types of shavers for the bullet tip. My guess is both ads are referring to the same razor i.e. the ones without a guiding eye on the razor head.
The_York_Dispatch_Thu__Sep_16__1948_rs.jpg
 
Either they are referring to the same razor as above here 1948 or there are 3 distinct types of shavers for the bullet tip. My guess is both ads are referring to the same razor i.e. the ones without a guiding eye on the razor head.
View attachment 1070049

I'd like to add that having used Gem the plastic and metal TTO knob bullet tip micromatic razors without the guiding eye now that they are indeed the same shaver.
 
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Few more pictures to add to this thread.

First up the Ever Ready 1907 ASR cut out lather catcher set.
er07a.jpger07b.jpger071.jpger072.jpger073.jpg

Here are some more Contour and Contour II razors. Apparently the Contour II came in 3 distinct handle styles not 2.
The Contour razor is the push button razor on the left, the remaining 3 flip tops are Contour II razors.
gc1.jpggc2.jpg
 
D

dangerousrazor

Few more pictures to add to this thread.

First up the Ever Ready 1907 ASR cut out lather catcher set.
View attachment 1077335View attachment 1077334View attachment 1077332View attachment 1077331View attachment 1077330

Here are some more Contour and Contour II razors. Apparently the Contour II came in 3 distinct handle styles not 2.
The Contour razor is the push button razor on the left, the remaining 3 flip tops are Contour II razors.
View attachment 1077338View attachment 1077337

How's the shaving with Ever Ready lather catcher? I saw it on the ebay and was interested but my previous experience with Ever Ready lather catcher was not so good.So I just passed.
 
How's the shaving with Ever Ready lather catcher? I saw it on the ebay and was interested but my previous experience with Ever Ready lather catcher was not so good.So I just passed.

It is mild because the razor only allows for a very shallow angle and minimal blade exposure. I like it because it shaves a lot like the Gem and British Ever Ready flat top razor razors. I have a new found appreciation for both and in turn this razor since I finally learned how to use them correctly. As long as you are willing to shave with enough passes they are as effective as most more aggressive or efficient razors.
 
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