"Athena" Auto Strop? - ID needed for mystery razor

[Sabotender]

Hi folks,

I bought this razor on a whim from an auction site. To be honest, I've never bought a vintage razor before and never owned an auto strop of any sort. I bought it purely based on the fact that I can find zero information about this razor. Maybe I got lucky? Maybe it's knockoff junk?

The ONLY piece of information I have is that this was originally purchased at a flea market in France. The seller is not a specialist in razors and so could not give me any more info about it.

Thanks to the very helpful post by Komboloi, I can see that this razor very closely resembles a Valet Model VB2, with a few differences that I can spot so far, namely:
1) The lack of screws on the bottom of the head
2) The handle is rounded, whereas the original VB2 has some light beveling on the handle
4) No "Made in X" country markings
4) And obviously the stamped out "ATHENA" lettering on the latch + logo on the top

I'm sure the vintage experts in this forum can point out more.

Here's the thing though, I've been up and down B&B forums, DFS forums, Reddit, Google, eBay, and so on. I cannot find a single mention of this razor ANYWHERE. It doesn't help that there are other razors named "Athena" (some cartridge razor, and of course the one from Lambda.)

Any thoughts on this? What the heck did I just buy? Pics below.

 

[Whiterook]

I see no reference to an Athena razor in Wait's Compendium, even in the AutoStrop section. Hopefully someone will be by who knows more than me.

 

[Rob72]

The question is- does a Valet or Feather cut-out blade fit? If so, its probably a foreign manufacturing license version.

 

[rasoirdangereux]

Valet Autostrop is one of the most copied razors in Japan, along with Gillette Tech. I've seen at least 10 diffrent Japanese Autstrop copies including 3 different Feather models(I have one), and a Kai . and I've also seen Athena on the Japanese Amazon. so I guess your razor is from Japan

I attach some pics of Japanese Autostrops.


.

 

[rasoirdangereux]

Oh my mistake. I don't know why I wrote Amazon insted of Yahoo Auction. Too late to edit....

 

[Sabotender]

Indeed I did buy it on Yahoo Auctions (actually I live here in Japan.) Cheers for the info and the pics, I had no idea. I even tried searching for the Athena razor in Japanese, and got very little results.

When you say "copies", I assume this means an unlicensed copy? I have to imagine that given the time period, Japan's adherence to international patent agreements probably wasn't 100% up to scratch.

 

[rasoirdangereux]

Indeed I did buy it on Yahoo Auctions (actually I live here in Japan.) Cheers for the info and the pics, I had no idea. I even tried searching for the Athena razor in Japanese, and got very little results.

When you say "copies", I assume this means an unlicensed copy? I have to imagine that given the time period, Japan's adherence to international patent agreements probably wasn't 100% up to scratch.

Well, I don't know much about the patents but I guess the patent of Valet Autostrop must have expired when those razors were produced(All of them seem to be products of post WW II)

 

[Wombat ESQ]

Hi folks,

I bought this razor on a whim from an auction site. To be honest, I've never bought a vintage razor before and never owned an auto strop of any sort. I bought it purely based on the fact that I can find zero information about this razor. Maybe I got lucky? Maybe it's knockoff junk?

The ONLY piece of information I have is that this was originally purchased at a flea market in France. The seller is not a specialist in razors and so could not give me any more info about it.

Thanks to the very helpful post by Komboloi, I can see that this razor very closely resembles a Valet Model VB2, with a few differences that I can spot so far, namely:
1) The lack of screws on the bottom of the head
2) The handle is rounded, whereas the original VB2 has some light beveling on the handle
4) No "Made in X" country markings
4) And obviously the stamped out "ATHENA" lettering on the latch + logo on the top

I'm sure the vintage experts in this forum can point out more.

Here's the thing though, I've been up and down B&B forums, DFS forums, Reddit, Google, eBay, and so on. I cannot find a single mention of this razor ANYWHERE. It doesn't help that there are other razors named "Athena" (some cartridge razor, and of course the one from Lambda.)

Any thoughts on this? What the heck did I just buy? Pics below.

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Without getting the real Valet off the shelf, two things, if thats not an outright copy I'd eat my hat with mayo. Correct blade it should not be junk?
The second thing is the case, it is for a reusable glass syringe most likely a diabetic/insulin one for daily home use injection of insulin before disposables.

The question is- does a Valet or Feather cut-out blade fit? If so, its probably a foreign manufacturing license version.

I would respectfully disagree, blades even for these Valet were quickly copied with minor variances to get around patents, as this razor appears with variance to not infringe a patent and will no doubt fit a Valet blade.

Indeed I did buy it on Yahoo Auctions (actually I live here in Japan.) Cheers for the info and the pics, I had no idea. I even tried searching for the Athena razor in Japanese, and got very little results.

When you say "copies", I assume this means an unlicensed copy? I have to imagine that given the time period, Japan's adherence to international patent agreements probably wasn't 100% up to scratch.

even the name would be enough to not foul a patent? no?

 

[rasoirdangereux]

I've found 3 variations of Feather Autostrop so far. I think there will be more.

Here are some pics of them.




This is my Feather Autostrop OC.


and there are other variations.



Different handle and closed comb head. Not mine.



Ornated handle version in Valet Autostrop case. Not mine.

 

[Sabotender]

I cleaned up and polished the Athena a bit, and then ordered a pack of FHS-10 blades from Feather. I never really intended to buy this antique razor for regular usage, but I figure I gotta at least give it a try. As I don't have a real Valet to compare it to, I'm not sure if the the little nubs/pins will fit through the blade in the Athena like they do on a Valet, but I'll be surprised if they don't. Here in Japan I can get 10 of those blades for about $4 USD, so not bad for a novelty experiment.

 

[Sabotender]

The FHS-10 blades are here. Put one in and it seems to fit securely and evenly. The Athena is locked and loaded! Sadly I've already had my three passes for today. I'll need to work up a wee bit of courage before I try this thing out.

 

[Tanuki]

The FHS-10 blades are here. Put one in and it seems to fit securely and evenly. The Athena is locked and loaded! Sadly I've already had my three passes for today. I'll need to work up a wee bit of courage before I try this thing out.

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Survival? Nirvana?