Gillette case question

[elmerwood]

I've gone through quite a few metal cases, but have never seen one that has this piece in. It looks like the bullet tip from another razor was installed in the back of the case to hold the razor in place. Is this common in this style case? Is this some home grown project? And does anyone know the last year Gillette used the script logo in a case? The razor that was included was a serial number dating it to 1916. If its a self project they did a good job doing it, the fabric is in perfect shape around the bullet etc. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[mblakele]

The diamond logo phased in from mid-1908 on. 1916 sounds much too late for a script case, unless someone at Gillette found one in the attic and decided to ship a new razor in it. More likely this was an aftermarket job.

 

[TheEye]

agree with mblakele, i think it is a selfmade addon

 

[elmerwood]

I kinda figured the case and the razor were a miss match, but I'm more curious about the little bullet. I took the fabric lining out of the bottom because I wanted to see how good of a job a user would have done back in the day to solder a small piece to this case. To my surprise if it was done by the user, it was done very good with no sloppy mess or tooling marks etc. The hole in the fabric and cardboard where the bullet pokes through are flawless. This guy would of had to have some precise tools to make such a perfect circle and not shred the fabric in the process. Maybe someone else has a case like mine but thought it was normal to have this piece???

 

[Merkur25]

That is very interesting indeed

 

[MacDaddy]

It's definitely not a mismatch. Gillette's early metal cases for the Standard Sets did have that stud like that to hold the razor. Here's the page out of the 1909 catalog that shows the layout the other way around, but you can see the stud there between the blade cases:



Here's a full-size crop into that part of the scan:

 

[elmerwood]

Well thats cool, it looked much to professional to be a user upgrade. Thanks Porter.

 

[mblakele]

Thanks for setting us straight, Porter. What about the 1916 razor vs the script-logo case?

That 1909 catalog shows the stud on a diamond-logo case. I had supposed the case would be something like 1906-1908, perhaps early 1909. Can the stud be used to place it more precisely?

 

[mr-razor]

Thanks for setting us straight, Porter. What about the 1916 razor vs the script-logo case?

That 1909 catalog shows the stud on a diamond-logo case. I had supposed the case would be something like 1906-1908, perhaps early 1909. Can the stud be used to place it more precisely?

1909 is the last year that I know with the sript logo case

 

[jbradley]

I thought that might be to hold the handle, but didn't want to speculate.

 

[MacDaddy]

Thanks for setting us straight, Porter. What about the 1916 razor vs the script-logo case?

That 1909 catalog shows the stud on a diamond-logo case. I had supposed the case would be something like 1906-1908, perhaps early 1909. Can the stud be used to place it more precisely?

I just realized that I was unclear earlier. When I said earlier that it wasn't a mismatch I thought we were talking about the case and the lining -- that someone might have put a Gillette headliner into some other razor case because of the stud. I missed the bit about the razor being a 1916 serial.

EW didn't mention, but is this a "C" series number that we're talking about, or a "D" series one? If it's a "C" there's a chance that it's a Canadian razor rather than an American one. Is the patent date on it the US one or the Canadian? If it's the US patent, then the simplest solution would be that the razor isn't original to the case.

I don't think the stud will be any more helpful there than the script logo. I'd agree with Achim that early 1909 would be about the latest you'd expect to see it at all. And it would have probably disappeared faster in the lower cost sets since their turnover would have been quicker.

 

[coolbus18]

It's definitely not a mismatch. Gillette's early metal cases for the Standard Sets did have that stud like that to hold the razor. Here's the page out of the 1909 catalog that shows the layout the other way around, but you can see the stud there between the blade cases:

View attachment 319629

Here's a full-size crop into that part of the scan:

View attachment 319630

great detective work! As always I learn from your postings. Thank you.

 

[the beav]

Nice find--thanks. I'm surprised that this issue has not come up before.