Gillette Single Rings with British Patent Numbers

[Buick48]

Adam ~

Yes, life would be much easier, but where would the thrill of the hunt and
the learning experiences be ????

Cheers,
Kevin

 

[armybuck041]

I recently took possession of this one. Still deciding if I’m going to keep it as I’ve been in a Canadian Only collecting theme lately.

It has both of the Brand Stamps on the inside of the Cap and on the Comb. Inner Barrel is stamped BR. PAT. No 28763.C2. Serial Number is stamped on the Bottom Band of the handle H044794.

 

[Buick48]

Congratulations ~

This is a very handsome set. It is rare to see one of these with such
CRISP and CLEAR stampings on both the comb/guard top and the
cap bottom.

Enjoy!

Cheers,
Kevin

 

[Useless shaver]

I recently took possession of this one. Still deciding if I’m going to keep it as I’ve been in a Canadian Only collecting theme lately.

It has both of the Brand Stamps on the inside of the Cap and on the Comb. Inner Barrel is stamped BR. PAT. No 28763.C2. Serial Number is stamped on the Bottom Band of the handle H044794.

EXCELLENT condition! A beauty indeed!

 

[romsitsa]

Hello,

a Canadian pocket edition with a late style case, shipper stating English made. I really think some British razors in the wiki were made after Leicester was shut down.

DEBUT 20 ème RASOIR GILLETTE POCKET EDITION razor | eBay

Adam

 

[Havard]

I have acquired a Single Ring set from an estate sale in Minnesota. The razor came in a slide clasp case with the New York logo ribbon and the apparently correct "sharp" and "dull" cardboard blade sheaths. The razor has the November 15, 04 patent date on the lower band, without any markings on the top cap or base plate, so I reckoned it to be American made. But the inner barrel has the serial number H381097, so I've become perplexed because such a number would not be on the inner barrel of an American made Single Ring. Perhaps my razor set applies to this discussion of SRs made in England, but there is also the possibility of some mismatch of components over the years, too. Can anyone weigh in with information, or even an educated guess, to shed some light on this and help me connect the dots?

 

[romsitsa]

Hello,

the “true” US H series had the serial on the comb, British on the inner tube, but all were produced after the diamond logo was introduced, so I think what you have is earlier.

If we forget the H and only look at a Sr with serial 381097 in a slide clasp case with NY sales office ribbon, then your set would be a full matching 460 from early 1906.
If this is true, then H was most probably used like G (early gold Single rings) but I don’t know what H stood for in 1906.

Adam

 

[Havard]

Hello,

the “true” US H series had the serial on the comb, British on the inner tube, but all were produced after the diamond logo was introduced, so I think what you have is earlier.

If we forget the H and only look at a Sr with serial 381097 in a slide clasp case with NY sales office ribbon, then your set would be a full matching 460 from early 1906.
If this is true, then H was most probably used like G (early gold Single rings) but I don’t know what H stood for in 1906.

Adam

Thanks for your help, Adam. In any case, this SR Gillette gives a tremendous shave, despite the serial number mystery!

 

[Havard]

I have acquired a Single Ring set from an estate sale in Minnesota. The razor came in a slide clasp case with the New York logo ribbon and the apparently correct "sharp" and "dull" cardboard blade sheaths. The razor has the November 15, 04 patent date on the lower band, without any markings on the top cap or base plate, so I reckoned it to be American made. But the inner barrel has the serial number H381097, so I've become perplexed because such a number would not be on the inner barrel of an American made Single Ring. Perhaps my razor set applies to this discussion of SRs made in England, but there is also the possibility of some mismatch of components over the years, too. Can anyone weigh in with information, or even an educated guess, to shed some light on this and help me connect the dots?

 

[Havard]

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few photos of the razor set which I have already described. The mystery of a Single Ring made in America but with an "H" serial number on the inner barrel still puzzles me - so much so that I still hope for the B&B community to ponder the apparent anomaly.

 

[Useless shaver]

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few photos of the razor set which I have already described. The mystery of a Single Ring made in America but with an "H" serial number on the inner barrel still puzzles me - so much so that I still hope for the B&B community to ponder the apparent anomaly.
View attachment 942713 View attachment 942714 View attachment 942715

Nice razor indeed. I too wonder why it's got an H... hopefully the wise men will enlighten us.

 

[romsitsa]

It skipped QC? The pins look very stubby for an early Sr.

Adam

 

[Bogeyman]

One thing very important is that 19th century & early 20th century New England manufacturers were frugal by nature and never threw anything away. If it was made then it was sold to include mismatched/misnumbered/mislettered parts. They were not building things for collectors 100 yrs. down the road. It was about money. Also, parts were binned and then drawn upon at a later date which always leads to errors somewhere along the line. That said, the only way to definitively settle this is that someone look at surviving (if they even still exist) factory day books from the era as no worker from that era survives.

 

[serbbres]

Hello all,

Here is my single ring made in England. No logos. Serial Number looks like: B183390 on the inner barrel.
BR.PAT. No. 28.763 OF'02
No idea about the box. Bought in Austria.

 

[romsitsa]

Hello,

it’s a Boston made Single ring for England, from 1909. The case looks to match with a replaced liner. Razor is in nice condition.

Adam

 

[Useless shaver]

Hello,

it’s a Boston made Single ring for England, from 1909. The case looks to matching with a replaced liner. Razor is in nice condition.

Adam

Rightly so!

A beauty indeed!

 

[romsitsa]

Hello,

browsed some early British court cases like Gillette vs. Luna and it looks like Gillette used the Brit. Pat., 1 Guinea price and limited licence notice as early as 1906, so I tend to belive no matter where a set was made, if it was ordered by the British sales company, it was marked with the British patent.
So Brit.Pat. should have been used earlier than Pat.Nov.N.

Another, vague, theory to explain Achims Single ring with serial F866571 (Pat.Nov.N, double stamped) and other high serial Pat.nov.N razors is that these were made in Montreal after 1916.
There was no European factory after Leicester closed in 1916, but going by the ads somone had to supply the French and British sales company with razors and as Boston should have been busy fulfilling the government contract, the only factory left was Montreal.
I never met a Single ring marked with the Canadian patent on this side of the ocean so I have to assume that they used a different patent to mark European shipments.
While Boston used letter prefixes, Montreal seemingly only used a series of numbers (1-1000000?) to mark Single rings after they dropped the C prefix.
If they simply added an E (England) or F (France) to their continous serial number system, it would work the same way as the early US G marking (for gold plate) did, and could explain high serial E-F razors.

I have no clue why the patent on these razor is Pat.Nov.N as they somtime come in cases with the British limited licence.

Adam

 

[Useless shaver]

Adam, as usual, excellent read. No,time to discuss it now... bit I'll find it! Only to agree with you..

 

[kjbarth]

So here is what I found while looking at my single rings preparing for OC shaves in OCtober.

One of them appears to be a British made single ring. I started researching to see if I could find a date or further information and I stumbled across this thread.

I've taken and attached pictures that show markings, serial #'s, patent #'s but I'm not sure how well they will show up here but here goes.

Gillette diamond on razor plate and on underside of cap. Included 2 pics to hopefully show this.
"BR PAT NO 2876302" on inside top of threaded knob.
Serial # "H105553" on bottom of handle.

 

[REV579]

@kjbarth That's a nice razor! Can I assume there is not a GinD or GinBox stamp on the razor guard? My notes say the Gillette "line" was introduced in 1913, and was found on a "G0xxxxx" razor. A conservative guess dates your razor to ~1915.