British Wilkinson New Stainless Blades - 1969

[Matt O]

Cool. Thanks Matt. I have never tried a Light Brigade. I am not willing to spend $5 a blade for those. And i guess I missed the boat when they were less expensive. Someone told me the Brit London Bridge blades were the same, so I found a full sleeve for around a buck a blade, and figured why not. They are really good blades. I may pick up another full sleeve just for yucks.

Congrats on the massive haul of "New" blades. You hit the jackpot there.

Thanks, and if you have the Made In England London Bridge you are doing alright…not missing anything!

Vr

Matt

 

[BradWorld]

Thanks, and if you have the Made In England London Bridge you are doing alright…not missing anything!

Vr

Matt

I think I'm covered for a bit...

 

[Zora]

@mjclark, I don't know if this helps, but...
I have many, many Wilkinson Sword blades from the late ‘60s, the ‘70s, and the ‘80s. My “guestimates” for attributing dates to them (aside from a failing memory) rely mostly on hang-card packaging. I think when Colgate-Palmolive acquired the US distribution rights, they started identifying the Mountainside, NJ address on the back side, and I think that was in 1970. My packages of new Wilkinson Swords all have the Mountainside address.

I don’t have any of the new (note lower case) Wilkinson Swords open right now (upper left of 1st pic)but they seem to date from 1970. The New Chromium Edge blades (also known as Light Brigades) date from ‘70/’71, while the later Light Brigades (just Chromium Edge – they lost the New) date from ‘72/’73. An interesting aside regarding Light Brigade packaging is the use of two different paintings on the hang-cards: the gold tunic on the chestnut horse is from a painting of the Charge of the Light Brigade, but the scarlet tunic on the white horse is from a painting of The Battle of Waterloo.

Sword Master XCN ‘Chromium blades date from 1974 and show a move to the Berkley Heights, NJ address. I believe bar codes on the hang-cards only started showing up after 1976, and the Sword Master Chromium blades (no XCN) show up then.

By 1979 Wilkinson were heavily marketing the Stainless Steel blade again (no Chromium) with a discounted FIFA soccer ball coupon similar to the old Light Brigade painting reproduction coupon from 1970.

By 1982, distribution headquarters had moved to Atlanta, GA (and then, I think, Norcross) and by 1988 I had more than 1,000 Wilkinson Sword blades of a variety of names and packaging and drifted away from acquisition. By the early ‘90s, I think, distribution had moved to Connecticut, but by then I wasn’t paying attention.

I apologize for the blurry pic, but it shows The new,The New Chromium Edge, Chromium Edge, Sword Master XCN, and Sword Master Chromium.

The last pic is a rip from eBay and shows the two different paintings on the package referred to as Light Brigade. I have seen both paintings with and without the New, so they must have been using the packaging concurrently.
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Good luck with your quest...
Tom

I would be interested in your views on the London Bridge (UK-made) blades? I have a few hundred and have found them to shave like the Light Brigade. Since they were a relatively small company, I would guess that they are renamed Light Brigades for the world/North America markets.

 

[TADIII]

I would be interested in your views on the London Bridge (UK-made) blades? I have a few hundred and have found them to shave like the Light Brigade. Since they were a relatively small company, I would guess that they are renamed Light Brigades for the world/North America markets.

I am humiliated to confess I have never used a London Bridge, so I cannot comment. I recently acquired a stash of Sheffield blades, but haven't tried them, either. I am pretty much a vintage Wilkinson shave: 100 Gillette Yellow SharpEdge - haven't tried them, 100 Kai - tried two, 100 Polsilver Super Iridium - tried three.