My fabulous wife gave me this scuttle as an anniversary gift today! It's a pewter scuttle (English Pewter Company, made in Sheffield) of the old-fashioned design with a cup on top, a hot water reservoir, and a mouth on the side for soaking your brush. I love it!! I've been using a cheap ceramic one of a similar design up until today. It's totally the perfect shape and size! Soaking the brush in hot water through the mouth on the side is exactly the right hight to submerge the hairs without submerging the plug/handle. The cup on top is exactly the right size for my stainless steel soap canisters to fit right in.
Photos! Note that I used it before taking photos, so there are some water spots on it, but it came perfectly shiny and glossy, no smudges or soap/water spots.
And, the packaging is really swanky. It's a really nice box, and inside the scuttle was floating on a velvet pillow, and inside a velvet bag.
On the usefulness of old-fashioned type scuttles like this: I think there's some confusion about how useful these types of scuttles are in modern times. I think it's very useful. I face lather, so I have no use for a big bowl. I don't keep soap directly in the cup on top. I keep my soap in little canisters (e.g. the green canister in the first photo). This fits in the top perfectly. So, before I shower, I fill the scuttle with hot water, warm up my soap canister, add some hot water on top of the soap, and put it in the top so that the puck heats up all the way through, and I put my brush in the side mouth to soak it. When I'm done showering, the soap and brush are warm and ready to shave. Load the brush, set the soap canister aside, lather up (face lather). Dip the brush in the scuttle to add water while lathering. Set the brush in the top cup between passes. On the second, and third, pass, the brush full of shave soap was still nice and hot, and has not dried out at all, because it's been getting steamed through the little holes. So, basically, I use it as a brush scuttle. And, it's fantastic for that. And, loading and lathering from hot soap and a hot brush, with lots of hot water to keep dipping in, is perfect for getting a huge explosion of fantastic lather from shaving soaps (I'm mostly using WMS, Haslinger, vintage Colgate, vintage Biette). Sorry this was a long explanation, but it really is quick and simple, and for me it makes a pleasant positive difference in the morning.
Photos! Note that I used it before taking photos, so there are some water spots on it, but it came perfectly shiny and glossy, no smudges or soap/water spots.
And, the packaging is really swanky. It's a really nice box, and inside the scuttle was floating on a velvet pillow, and inside a velvet bag.
On the usefulness of old-fashioned type scuttles like this: I think there's some confusion about how useful these types of scuttles are in modern times. I think it's very useful. I face lather, so I have no use for a big bowl. I don't keep soap directly in the cup on top. I keep my soap in little canisters (e.g. the green canister in the first photo). This fits in the top perfectly. So, before I shower, I fill the scuttle with hot water, warm up my soap canister, add some hot water on top of the soap, and put it in the top so that the puck heats up all the way through, and I put my brush in the side mouth to soak it. When I'm done showering, the soap and brush are warm and ready to shave. Load the brush, set the soap canister aside, lather up (face lather). Dip the brush in the scuttle to add water while lathering. Set the brush in the top cup between passes. On the second, and third, pass, the brush full of shave soap was still nice and hot, and has not dried out at all, because it's been getting steamed through the little holes. So, basically, I use it as a brush scuttle. And, it's fantastic for that. And, loading and lathering from hot soap and a hot brush, with lots of hot water to keep dipping in, is perfect for getting a huge explosion of fantastic lather from shaving soaps (I'm mostly using WMS, Haslinger, vintage Colgate, vintage Biette). Sorry this was a long explanation, but it really is quick and simple, and for me it makes a pleasant positive difference in the morning.
