Different Darwin
- Thread starter Cal1961
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It looks kinda like this one I saw just last week.....
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- #4
I think it is the same one. I did not think he used ebay but he has a Standard and Deluxe and said this struck him as different but cant find any further information.
This is a picture of a Darwin that I saved from an ebay auction from last year. While this one is clearly a Deluxe version, it is the only one I have seen with Darwin written on both sides of the cap instead of the Reg. No. on one side. The cap is also flat on top with angled sides instead of the curved cap I have seen on most Deluxe and Standard Darwins.
View attachment $Darwin from Ebay.jpg
View attachment $Darwin from Ebay.jpg
..... and here are some pictures of the most unusual Darwin I have seen to date. It is a two piece Darwin, that was listed on another ebay auction.
With Darwin, are we really dealing with a semi-custom shop here? They are English and the English were famous for very high craftsmanship but not a lot of standardization. As an old Jag collector, trust me on this. I think, at the time, mass production and rabid standardization was kind of an American thing.
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- #8
I think I am coming round to your way of thinking. Once you start looking there seem to be many different variants and yet you do not see that many razors! It cant have been cost effective to have so many variatiations in design. Could it be that Darwin were really a steel maker and that the razors were just by product? Having said that there also seem to be many different cases!! I am now becoming intrigued and frustrated in equal measure as to the lack of information.
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Connie first one that you send looks like Mirabilia and the second is hybrid of Standard and Miracol(or the other one which in Waits compendium) Therefore British makers knew how to make razors with some individuality.
There was a post a little while ago with the patent info, and a search of the owner of the patent on the razor showed that he owned the company, was a steel maker and had come up with various innovations in steel making. He was a German living in England and was a pillar of his community but during the war was seen with some suspicion because of his origin. If anything, there's a bit of a wealth of information about him, his history, the history of the company and his innovations.
He was certainly a blade maker. Perhaps the focus of the company was on blades as a standard consumer product and the razors were considered more like examples of innovative design and steel making rather than as standard consumer products.
Perhaps you've hit on the exact exaplanation. Wouldn't surprise me all that much. The company is still in existence, in Sheffield, making custom steel products.
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- #12
+1 would seem a quite logical explanation. Showcasing their skills?
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- #13
Another thought. They produced razor blades so maybe the razors were a promotional item?
I expect not in that they did take out patents for both the DE razors as well as their SE razor. And so, I cannot think that the razors were promotional. I suspect thought that you're right in that the razors may have been thought of as showcasing the skills of the craftsmen.
Wow, that blade angle is flat in that pic. I wonder what that is like to shave with? The mystery just deepens with the Darwin. I knew there was variety but I forgot how much. Now that we have posted different ones in this thread, it really brings it into focus how much they changed the razor. So forgive my complete ignorance in the question I am about to ask but I am not a businessman. What exactly do you patent in a product if you are continually tinkering with it and changing it? Wouldn't you have to file a new patent and get a new number? What got patented with the Darwins' that they could continually tweak the razor design?
I agree too, even Gillette at times lost focus and standardization.
This screw really gets in my way of shaving, they should have done something about that screw.
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- #18
I have a standard and the screw does not protrude like the one in your picture so maybe there was an issue in production. I have to say that the Darwin is my No 1 razor above even my Brit Atristocrats.
Maybe you can put a couple of washer rings around the Neck before you up the 2 piece head on, that should stop the screw from sticking out so much, Take the razor with you to home depot so you can match the right Washer for it ? and stop Screwing around LOL JK
)Good idea
