Ben Hur, the Apollo for France

[efsk]

Interesting. The first time I see that tag in gold without it being a slant razor. Normally, the ordinary Apollo razors have red tags. Since no sufficient dataset is used to determine whether or not gold=slant is actually true that may not mean anything.
Nice razor, well preserved.

 

[mjclark]

Interesting. The first time I see that tag in gold without it being a slant razor. Normally, the ordinary Apollo razors have red tags. Since no sufficient dataset is used to determine whether or not gold=slant is actually true that may not mean anything.
Nice razor, well preserved.

Thanks - do all the tags have German on one side and English on the other?

 

[efsk]

Probably not

 

[Quaternion]

I think the dating logic I used may have been flawed, but there's no easy way to be precise with these dates

Mine has “DRGM” on the baseplate so it’s definitely pre-1952.

Last year I asked the German patent office for information about DRGM 1284320 and they said that the document itself hasn't been preserved, but they still have lists where they can look up some general information. They sent me a photo of that list entry:

November 15, 1933
That is the day they applied for or registered the DRGM.

How long did a DRGM protect a design?
I found the answer on this site:
"This copyright was initially for a period of 3 years, with an option to extend it for another 3. This gave the copyright owner a maximum of 6 years protection."

DRGM 1284320 = 1933 to 1939
That's probably the time frame when these razors have been produced.

 

[efsk]

Thank you very much! That is valuable info!
I've bookmarked your post for reference.

 

[mjclark]

Last year I asked the German patent office for information about DRGM 1284320 and they said that the document itself hasn't been preserved, but they still have lists where they can look up some general information. They sent me a photo of that list entry:

November 15, 1933
That is the day they applied for or registered the DRGM.

How long did a DRGM protect a design?
I found the answer on this site:
"This copyright was initially for a period of 3 years, with an option to extend it for another 3. This gave the copyright owner a maximum of 6 years protection."

DRGM 1284320 = 1933 to 1939
That's probably the time frame when these razors have been produced.

Yes thank you for such great research - it feels good to know how old this razor really is.

 

[Quaternion]

Interesting. The first time I see that tag in gold without it being a slant razor. Normally, the ordinary Apollo razors have red tags. Since no sufficient dataset is used to determine whether or not gold=slant is actually true that may not mean anything.

@Jake has Mikron sets with golden medallions:
Mint Apollo Mikron - from the time vault
More Apollo Mikron adjustables

I think they also exist in silver.

 

[Jake]

@Jake has Mikron sets with golden medallions:
Mint Apollo Mikron - from the time vault
More Apollo Mikron adjustables

I think they also exist in silver.

Thanks for this valuable and valued information. @Quaternion does it again!

 

[gvw755]

My Apollo came in today. Thanks to the above info, I was able to determine it was part of that 1933-39 group. So now I have a regular Apollo, a Ben Hur slant, and two bakelite base plates. Unlike the ones pictured, mine has the basket weave handles instead of the lined ones. I just finished cleaning my Apollo and am looking forward to the shave.

 

[User 306]

My Apollo came in today. Thanks to the above info, I was able to determine it was part of that 1933-39 group. So now I have a regular Apollo, a Ben Hur slant, and two bakelite base plates. Unlike the ones pictured, mine has the basket weave handles instead of the lined ones. I just finished cleaning my Apollo and am looking forward to the shave.

View attachment 844093 View attachment 844094

Nice acquisition!

 

[User 306]

Can anyone tell me what Head might go with this handle?

 

[mjclark]

My Apollo came in today. Thanks to the above info, I was able to determine it was part of that 1933-39 group. So now I have a regular Apollo, a Ben Hur slant, and two bakelite base plates. Unlike the ones pictured, mine has the basket weave handles instead of the lined ones. I just finished cleaning my Apollo and am looking forward to the shave.

View attachment 844093 View attachment 844094

Superb!
These are such good looking razors.
How does the slant shave?

 

[efsk]

@gvw755 nice pair!

@Dragonsbeard my 111D has that handle:

 

[User 306]

@gvw755 nice pair!

@Dragonsbeard my 111D has that handle:

That looks beautiful!! A slant to.
Now I have to find a head for the handle or turn it into a Frankenrazor! Lol

Thanks for posting up the photo.

 

[gvw755]

Cleaned up my Apollo yesterday and shaved with it tonight. There was significant blade feel, however the shave was very smooth. I found that the propeller base plate turned my Apollo into a DE Rapide where lather just passed underneath without me rinsing the head. I was able to get a full pass at one time. In the end, this turned into a two pass with no touch up shave, which rates very high among all the razors in my rotation. I got to work this one into my rotation.

 

[gvw755]

View attachment 844115 Can anyone tell me what Head might go with this handle?

Although I haven't seen the Apollo where my two base plates came from, There might be a mostly bakelite version out there. In my Frankenrazor experiments, Getting a top cap with the right geometry was the hard part to match with my base plate. I still haven't found the right combo, however with tonight's shave, I now know what a real Apollo shaves like and can compare top caps.

 

[User 306]

Although I haven't seen the Apollo where my two base plates came from, There might be a mostly bakelite version out there. In my Frankenrazor experiments, Getting a top cap with the right geometry was the hard part to match with my base plate. I still haven't found the right combo, however with tonight's shave, I now know what a real Apollo shaves like and can compare top caps.

I have a tried this handle with many different heads just to see if they fit. The handle strangely it fits on many different heads but I’d like to put an Apollo head on it. I will probably find a whole razor and use both handles as I think it would be next to impossible to just find a head.