What's new

Company name, identification & lettering

You would think that the higher end shaving brush companies would be prouder of their products and apply a permanent or an etched/stamped name, logo, product number and date on their brushes.

I have several EJ brushes, one Simpson "Eshan," a Truefit and Hill (3/1) and a Rooney (3/1). The EJ printing looks very good, but I'm not sure for longevity.

The Simpson is stamped X2L, Best Badger and then "COLONEL"stamped on the opposit side. The letter filling is already falling out. The Simpson decal looks cheap and detracts from a $115 brush.

The Truefit and Hill/Rooney have applied on lettering and will probable wear off with use.

My Omega boar brushes seem have a higher quality printing/logo on them.

I have an Erskine, re-knotted, finest badger that has a filled stamping on the bottem. "SET IN RUBBER, ERSKINE, STERILIZED, 98"

At the very least the high grade brush identification should be ledgable for 50 or 60 years, like the Erskine. It would be pleasant to contemplate someone using my old brushes 60 years from now, stateing with pride, "It's a Truefit and Hill, Made in England, 2009, model 3/1, with silvertip badger"

Oh Well! I tend to be anal about some things. I will quit whining, go stroke by brushes, smell my soaps and aftershaves, until my perfectionistic rant subsides. Wet shaving forever!

In 60 years they will probably be using lasers or a microwave/ultrsonic blaster to take off the beard.
 
Last edited:
You would think that on a high-end brush that is supposed to last, the manufacturer would want their company name to last on it too. It makes good marketing sense.
 
I never thought about it until you mentioned it.
Maybe the companies don't expect you to pass them along.
Once you own a high end brush you get buried with it??
I should put that in my will.
 
Also for what it is worth, you can't read the lettering on most vintage brushes either, so it's not like it's new shoddy work...
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
I kind of like the old Simpson's approach to labels ... it's more for in-store identification than for long-term look-at-me-ism; the gold sticker was designed to wash off in the first few uses, and the 'lamp black' wears out quickly enough ... you end up with a brush of stark simplicity and beauty, and of course you still know it's a Simpson anyhow, so there's really no need for labels after all, right? And it's a very old-fashioned English attitutde that no one is expected to see the brush except the owner/user and maybe his wife, so it's not like you need a label of the brand anymore than you need a label of how-to instructions. I think you either know it by sight without a label, or else a label would be meaningless to you.

In 60 years they will probably be using lasers or a microwave/ultrsonic blaster to carve the name on the brush.

FTFY
 
I think that's a good point. The only people that see my brushes are me, my fiance, and my brother when we visit home (shared bathroom). So it's not like I have them on display on a rack in the living room.
 
After reading DOC4's reasoning, I tend to agree with him, until I think about my family selling my high end brushes, at a garage sale for $2 each, because they did not know what they had and no way to research to find out. I do not need to know what I have, but after I'm gone someone else might like to know. How many times have I heard on this forum, "Can someone tell me about this brush or razor. There are no or few markings that can tell me about it so I can research the history."

Maybe I'm wrong, but perhaps some wet shavers would like have their sons, daughters, nephews or friends be able to say, "That was my fathers/grandfathers/uncle's/friends favorite shaving brush. A Rooney 3/1, Coral handle, silvertip badger brush, handmade in England. He bought it in 2009 and used it for 15 years."

It seems to me that this forum has alot to say about establishing family history with classic shaving gear. It's like we are able to pass something each of us enjoyed with great passion, to our family's and the future.
 
I get the feeling that anyone really passing on these items will have informed their children (or others) about them long before they are gone. I think a lot of people just don't worry about it because so few people use them anymore.
 
I kind of like the old Simpson's approach to labels ... it's more for in-store identification than for long-term look-at-me-ism; the gold sticker was designed to wash off in the first few uses, and the 'lamp black' wears out quickly enough ... you end up with a brush of stark simplicity and beauty, and of course you still know it's a Simpson anyhow, so there's really no need for labels after all, right? And it's a very old-fashioned English attitutde that no one is expected to see the brush except the owner/user and maybe his wife, so it's not like you need a label of the brand anymore than you need a label of how-to instructions. I think you either know it by sight without a label, or else a label would be meaningless to you.



FTFY

Indeed.

I'd be somewhat perturbed if manufacturers of high end English shoes started emblazoning a logo all over them like a pair of Nikes. I'd prefer the old Simpson brushes labelling.
 
Top Bottom