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Help dating vintage Merkur/Pomco/Hoffritz etc.

I see three different layouts of the vintage Merkur/Pomco/Hoffritz (there may be more but these are the three I know of and see out there)

Two piece - captured tightening knob and cap with long stud (i.e a modern 34c or 37c)
1681315183884.png


Three piece - plate still connected to handle and cap still has long stud but tightening knob separate from handle
1681315345645.png


Three piece - plate is separate, cap has a short stud and handle is one piece.
1681315460554.png


I have a vintage Pomco that is that last type with a one piece handle, separate plate and cap with short stud.
1681316821779.png


I'd like to know more about my vintage Pomco. What era it is from? (30's? 40's? 50's?) It has a bit different geometry and deeper teeth/scallops on the safety bar compared to the modern 37c. The cap is smooth compared to the modern 37c that has mild scallops on the cap. It also feels much better made and I'm guessing it's probably brass rather than Zamac like the modern 37c. The threads on the stud are so much better made compared to the threads on a modern Merkur

Thanks in advance for any clues about what era the different styles might be from.
 

Old Hippie

Somewhere between 61 and dead
Messed up the formatting; sorry...

I see three different layouts of the vintage Merkur/Pomco/Hoffritz (there may be more but these are the three I know of and see out there)

Two piece - captured tightening knob and cap with long stud (i.e a modern 34c or 37c)
View attachment 1636967

Three piece - plate still connected to handle and cap still has long stud but tightening knob separate from handle
View attachment 1636975

This is actually the same thing, separated by a minor design change. Merkur referred to "long screw" and "short screw" where we say "two piece" and "three piece." The retainer collar shows up on the newer razors ("newer" that is, since the late '60s or so) but the ones without are still "two piece" razors.

Three piece - plate is separate, cap has a short stud and handle is one piece.
View attachment 1636980

This is a "three piece" razor, correct

I have a vintage Pomco that is that last type with a one piece handle, separate plate and cap with short stud.
View attachment 1637010

I'd like to know more about my vintage Pomco. What era it is from? (30's? 40's? 50's?) It has a bit different geometry and deeper teeth/scallops on the safety bar compared to the modern 37c.

Looks like a pre-1970 issue. They changed the tooling in 1970, according to an engineer I talked to at Merkur. Before that I believe they put in new tooling sometime in the early '50s. If this was branded Merkur it would be a 36, the short-screw ("three piece") version of the 37. Merkur used different model numbers for each variation. @Tanuki used to have a 36; he can likely date it a bit closer but there are no official production records in existence as far as we know. Merkur was sold out of the family in 1996 IIRC and all the records and production archives were retained by the family.

The cap is smooth compared to the modern 37c that has mild scallops on the cap. It also feels much better made and I'm guessing it's probably brass rather than Zamac like the modern 37c.

Nope. Zamak. The razor's just in very good condition.

The threads on the stud are so much better made compared to the threads on a modern Merkur

Thanks in advance for any clues about what era the different styles might be from.

I'd have to be pretty broad about it, but most of the Merkur/Coles/Hoffritz/Pomco/Abercrombie & Fitch/Bartali etc. razors -- all made by Merkur -- were products of the '50s to the '60s. There are some other razors that show some signs of being Merkur product, likely after the war when Merkur appears to have been picking up other companies going out of (or not going back into) business. Walbusch is one, and Fasan is another.

I started with a Merkur like about 9/10 of the folks on here, but I got really fascinated by the company when I started trying to track down more information on the fabled "Super Slant" (not the same as the new RazoRock Superslant...). That one, which could be up to four different razor models, is a bit of a mystery but there are examples out there. The company officially doesn't know they ever made it, however.

O.H.
 
The Merkur 36 was a three piece with chrome-plated brass short/thin handle and the short screw zamak head. I got mine in the late 1970s. It was still in fine shape when it disappeared from my eldest son's office during some remodeling.

DE172057-800F-41F8-B38C-E645ED774C9B.jpeg

157D4E52-76C7-48F3-871D-53F777BFFADB.jpeg


Here is another model, the 4 piece travel slant. No scallops on the cap, so I suppose it was made before the 50s re-tooling. The handle is silver plated.

057BE12B-AC34-4981-8044-7E03FE4A49EF.jpeg


When I'm feeling nostalgic for my 36, I assemble a replica from a RazoRock German 37 head and a modern Merkur short/skinny handle.
 
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