I've got a few questions for those who have/had multiple Double Rings with cases. I'm sure we've all noticed the interior color differences, the ribbon font type, and the locations on the ribbons etc. Is it just me or do the interiors with green velvet and red velvet usually contain the older razors? Not only the older razors, but also in my case, the three that I have had that aren't the run of the mill purple interior and "Time Square" ribbon have all been a larger case physically and the text on the bottom has been a different type or font as well. I'll post some pictures to better describe what I'm talking about in a few, but I just wanted to see if someone has noticed the same.
Gillette double ring case size differences
- Thread starter elmerwood
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #2
The fugitives in question. The one in the far back left with purple ribbon is # 273926. The one to its right with black ribbon is #103433.
The front left with green interior no ribbon #97597 and the one to the right in the red case is a Pat Apld For. As show both earlier models have the larger boxes. At any point I'm aware some could have swapped knobs but this is what I've got to work with.
Side by side comparison.
Full frontal comparison.
The front left with green interior no ribbon #97597 and the one to the right in the red case is a Pat Apld For. As show both earlier models have the larger boxes. At any point I'm aware some could have swapped knobs but this is what I've got to work with.
Side by side comparison.
Full frontal comparison.
- Thread starter
- #3
Both earlier models. Left #97597 right Pat Apld For
Left #273926 Right #103433
On the left is the smaller case and I think maybe newer, and on the right is the larger case and the one i suspect is older.
Notice the font difference in the two? The smaller case has text that looks italicized while the larger case looks to have a more block style font. Also note the smaller case they spell out twelve blades where the larger case uses the number 12.
The last difference that I noticed is the larger case was symmetrical top to bottom. The last picture is of the two large cases but one is upside down. This would make sense to me if they were trying to build these on a because there were more parts the same size and less parts different sizes. So the top could be the bottom or the bottom could be the top.
Left #273926 Right #103433
On the left is the smaller case and I think maybe newer, and on the right is the larger case and the one i suspect is older.
Notice the font difference in the two? The smaller case has text that looks italicized while the larger case looks to have a more block style font. Also note the smaller case they spell out twelve blades where the larger case uses the number 12.
The last difference that I noticed is the larger case was symmetrical top to bottom. The last picture is of the two large cases but one is upside down. This would make sense to me if they were trying to build these on a because there were more parts the same size and less parts different sizes. So the top could be the bottom or the bottom could be the top.
Yes - there is the '2/3 box' (left) and '50:50 box' on the right (in the full frontal comparison shot) - discussed in a thread somewhere here...
- Thread starter
- #5
If you see something I didn't see or have any idea on the differences I'd love to see what you think. Thanks guys
- Thread starter
- #6
(30 minutes)
Some of it is covered here in the thread I created about my unusual DR
- Thread starter
- #8
I wonder if this was the thread Mark was talking about. I read through the thread again and it does seem like these 50/50 cases were among the earliest. In case you were wondering there was another Pat Apld For DR that recently sold on eBay that had the split knob. I had it in my watch list but decided not to buy and and I noticed after the fact that the knob was split. D'oh! Thanks Dhilip for the link.
What are those metal blade holders doing in that Double Ring case! 
What are those metal blade holders doing in that Double Ring case!
In some cases they actually fit better
Just found this but as I mentioned in the restoral thread I believe the red felt is the earliest. There is also a very wide ribbon in the early early 50/50 case just after the Tins that were in the same red felt. Note that my experience with a mint tin set I saw and that early wide ribbon were both from Chicago. I used to think the Boston should be early but in the Gillette Blade we know that the Chicago sales office was really getting things rolling sales wise as Knickerson was just getting the blades and razors where he wanted them manufacturing wise. The packaging is such a mystery to me if Gillette made them or subbed them out. I believe the American Can Co. made the early tin but going to the wood cases there is not much info.
- Thread starter
- #12
What makes you so sure that the tins tins were covered in felt? Wouldn't this make Gillette one of the only ones if not the only one making a tin and then lining it with felt at this time?
Wait, wait now i am confused , Did you mean in some cases like different scenenarios? Or Different physical cases? p
p In some cases they actually fit better
Last edited:
Cause I held one in my hand, a perfect set, all the blades in the blade tins and nice bright red felt. The felt had bled the color red on the blade tins over the years. I also found a tin set in an auction that had already taken place ;( and it mentioned the same thing, see catalog description below. I am certain all the tins were felted bright red.
Last edited:
I thought I'd revive this year-old thread because a couple of recent acquisitions encouraged me to make a deeper dive into Single Rings, Double Rings and their cases.
I found an orphaned 1905 DR in the wild a couple of weeks ago, and then yesterday picked up a 1905 SR cased set (chronicled here), but when I looked at Achim's examples on mr-razor.com, the SR case that I found looked much more like his DR example. Edgar reminded me about this thread, and the reading began.
Problem is, the more I read, the more I was confused, and the more my head began to hurt. So I thought I'd build a list of those variations folks have observed in only the slide-latch cases of the early DR and SR razors to help clear my head a little. I won't claim any new findings here or ground-breaking revelations, but it helped me to distill the variations to a single list:
- Larger vs smaller cases
- Small lids/larger bottoms vs equal size lids & bottoms (30:70 vs 50:50)
- Felt liner colors - red, green, purple
- Sewn ribbon in headliner vs printed ribbon
- Black ribbons in the headliner vs purple ribbons
- Plain ribbons vs ornate ribbons
- Chicago, New York and London - and Sales Office location may or may not have any correlation to physical variants
- "Handle and Twelve Blades/PRICE $5.00" on bottom under trademark vs no statement under trademark
- "Handle and Twelve Blades/PRICE $5.00" in slant/almost italic script vs block script
- "Handle and Twelve Blades/PRICE $5.00" vs "Handle and 12 Blades/PRICE $5.00"
- Gillette/Gillette vs SHARP/DULL vs USED/UN-USED blade sleeves
- Plain vs ornate script on blade sleeves
So I have no idea which might be the older vs the newer variants for any of these attributes and won't even hazard a guess - that's for the veteran experts and not the newbies like me!
My case? Smaller, 30:70, purple felt, purple sewn New York ribbon with ornate script, "Handle and Twelve Blades/PRICE $5.00" under the trademark in slanted script, with ornate SHARP/DULL blade sleeve script.
View attachment 566214
View attachment 566215
View attachment 566216
So, which razor should it be holding - the 1905 Double Ring or the 1905 Single Ring?
I found an orphaned 1905 DR in the wild a couple of weeks ago, and then yesterday picked up a 1905 SR cased set (chronicled here), but when I looked at Achim's examples on mr-razor.com, the SR case that I found looked much more like his DR example. Edgar reminded me about this thread, and the reading began.
Problem is, the more I read, the more I was confused, and the more my head began to hurt. So I thought I'd build a list of those variations folks have observed in only the slide-latch cases of the early DR and SR razors to help clear my head a little. I won't claim any new findings here or ground-breaking revelations, but it helped me to distill the variations to a single list:
- Larger vs smaller cases
- Small lids/larger bottoms vs equal size lids & bottoms (30:70 vs 50:50)
- Felt liner colors - red, green, purple
- Sewn ribbon in headliner vs printed ribbon
- Black ribbons in the headliner vs purple ribbons
- Plain ribbons vs ornate ribbons
- Chicago, New York and London - and Sales Office location may or may not have any correlation to physical variants
- "Handle and Twelve Blades/PRICE $5.00" on bottom under trademark vs no statement under trademark
- "Handle and Twelve Blades/PRICE $5.00" in slant/almost italic script vs block script
- "Handle and Twelve Blades/PRICE $5.00" vs "Handle and 12 Blades/PRICE $5.00"
- Gillette/Gillette vs SHARP/DULL vs USED/UN-USED blade sleeves
- Plain vs ornate script on blade sleeves
So I have no idea which might be the older vs the newer variants for any of these attributes and won't even hazard a guess - that's for the veteran experts and not the newbies like me!
My case? Smaller, 30:70, purple felt, purple sewn New York ribbon with ornate script, "Handle and Twelve Blades/PRICE $5.00" under the trademark in slanted script, with ornate SHARP/DULL blade sleeve script.
View attachment 566214
View attachment 566215
View attachment 566216
So, which razor should it be holding - the 1905 Double Ring or the 1905 Single Ring?
If the script logo case was introduced in 1906, the correct answer might be both.
And since you found it with a 1905 Single Ring, most likely it's the original set.
Anyway this is just my opinion, Dan. Let's see what the experts say about it.
Very nice finds, congrats!
And since you found it with a 1905 Single Ring, most likely it's the original set.
Anyway this is just my opinion, Dan. Let's see what the experts say about it.
Very nice finds, congrats!
I'm with you on this, thinking my case came right in the middle of the transition <lol>If the script logo case was introduced in 1906, the correct answer might be both.
And since you found it with a 1905 Single Ring, most likely it's the original set.
Anyway this is just my opinion, Dan. Let's see what the experts say about it.
Very nice finds, congrats!
As for the list and which variants might be older vs newer, here are my guesses based on hunches and intuition, so just about as solid a foundation as a guy could want
- but I thought I would put a couple of stakes in the ground to stimulate a conversation:- Larger vs smaller cases
Larger is older and only DRs, smaller is newer and all SRs used a variation, but DRs appeared in both with the transition
- Small lids/larger bottoms vs equal size lids & bottoms (30:70 vs 50:50)
Equal size is older and only DRs, 30:70 is newer and all SRs used a variation, but DRs appeared in both with the transition
- Felt liner colors - red, green & purple
Red & green only used for DRs, DRs used purple after a transition, and all SRs used purple
- Sewn ribbon in headliner vs printed ribbon
Only DR cases used sewn ribbons, but newer DRs used printed ribbon cases, some early SRs might have sewn ribbon cases
- Black ribbons in the headliner vs purple ribbons
Black is older and all DR, newer DR used purple, any SR that had sewn ribbon cases would have used purple
- Plain ribbons vs ornate ribbons
Plain is older and all DR, newer DR used ornate, any SR that had sewn ribbon cases would have used ornate
- Chicago, Boston, New York and London - and Sales Office location may or may not have any correlation to physical variants
New York cases have italicized "Handle and Twelve Blades", Chicago and Boston have block script, London?
- "Handle and Twelve Blades/PRICE $5.00" on bottom under trademark vs no statement under trademark
Statement is older than no statement, based on Achim's 1905 DR and 1905 SR examples
- "Handle and Twelve Blades/PRICE $5.00" in slant/almost italic script vs block script
Block script is older than slant/italic script, but slant/italic used for both DR and SR cases, based mostly on the photos in post #3
- "Handle and Twelve Blades/PRICE $5.00" vs "Handle and 12 Blades/PRICE $5.00"
Guessing that "12" is older than "Twelve", again, based mostly on the photos in post #3
- Gillette/Gillette vs SHARP/DULL vs USED/UN-USED blade sleeves
I'm watching Dragonmaster's development of blade sleeve/blade safe chronology with great interest!
- Plain vs ornate script on blade sleeves
Again, I'm watching Dragonmaster's blade safe chronology with interest, but I'm thinking plain is older than ornate, just like the other attribute variations
So, there you have it, my first guesses - and all of those guesses put my case squarely in the middle of the transition which means it could easily have originally held either my SR or DR.
Last edited:
Dan --
Thank you for your confidence
Bob
Dragonmaster
Thank you for your confidence
Bob
Dragonmaster
Your timing was uncanny, Bob - I was literally about to post a thread asking if anyone had done a blade safe ID page like Achim's for razors and blades when your thread popped up! Thank you for taking on a daunting project!!!
Dan -- Bird's of a feather flock together.... Great minds think alike.... and all that --
I was curious about early case variations (and thinking about starting a chart of double ring and early single ring cases, 1904-1912,
or thereabouts. This has now been preempted by my commencing a chart of the Gillette gold karat variations model by model.
I want to take this moment to thank those that that have already sent me data on these topics, and to ask B & B readers to please feel free to share any information they may have, so that I can include it in these projects.
Thanks,
Bob
Dragonmaster
I was curious about early case variations (and thinking about starting a chart of double ring and early single ring cases, 1904-1912,
or thereabouts. This has now been preempted by my commencing a chart of the Gillette gold karat variations model by model.
I want to take this moment to thank those that that have already sent me data on these topics, and to ask B & B readers to please feel free to share any information they may have, so that I can include it in these projects.
Thanks,
Bob
Dragonmaster
