Help with razor ID

[Voll]

Yesterday I bought job-lot of 4 razors and an Anti-Thrax brush for $15 from a Consignment Store. I'm not a collector (I'm happy alternating between my Jagger Chatsworth Barley and an Aristocrat Junior TTO that I bought for $3 in a charity shop) but I was curious as to their ID.

Two of them, a Valet Autostrop and a GEM, are easily identified but I'm not sure about the other two Canadian-made Gillettes. After looking at mr-razor's website, I think the one on the left may be a Canadian Military set from 1938-45 (it weighs 48g). The one on the right may be a Goodwill but I can't find a similar blade guard or cap in any photo I've found so far so I'm not sure what it is. Does anyone know what I've bought?

The brush looks identical as that posted by SHM on page 18 of the "Post your Butterscotch Eye Candy Here" thread except for two important details (apart from the condition and the box): my brush does not have a screw-off base and there is a a small hole on the side of the brush opposite to the labels just above the printed name Anti-Thrax. The hole is about 1/8" dia by about 1/4" deep and looks like it is original though I can't imagine why it is there. I can find little about this make of brush so any help would be appreciated.

 

[M80]

The brush looks identical as that posted by SHM on page 18 of the "Post your Butterscotch Eye Candy Here" thread except for two important details (apart from the condition and the box): my brush does not have a screw-off base and there is a a small hole on the side of the brush opposite to the labels just above the printed name Anti-Thrax. The hole is about 1/8" dia by about 1/4" deep and looks like it is original though I can't imagine why it is there. I can find little about this make of brush so any help would be appreciated.

SHM's brush also has the hole.
http://www.shm.dk/shave/gear/brush/32 anti-thrax.htm
http://www.shm.dk/shave/brush/32_anti-thrax/AT-05.JPG

 

[M80]

bits of info...

Chemist and Druggist: The newsweekly for pharmacy, Volume 128 (snippet)

With the Anti-thrax brushes a £500 free insurance against death from anthrax within twelve months of purchase is given by the makers, Edward Hack, Ltd. A novel feature of the brushes is the incorporation, in the handle, ...


Reckitt & Colman Products Ltd v Borden Inc.
My Lords, the respondents to this appeal and their predecessors in business have
for many years carried on business as manufacturers and suppliers of domestic and
culinary products of various kinds, including preserved lemon juice. Shortly *496 after
the end of the Second World War such juice began to be sold in Italy in convenient
plastic squeeze packs coloured and shaped like lemons and in 1955 a company called
Edward Hack Ltd. began to market juice in similar packs in the United Kingdom. Shortly
thereafter another company, Coldcrops Ltd., entered the market with lemon juice sold
in similar containers. Litigation ensued, Edward Hack Ltd. claiming that Coldcrops Ltd.
were passing off lemon juice as and for their produce. That action never came to trial
because both businesses were acquired by the respondents who thereafter marketed juice
in plastic lemon containers of the Hack design under the brand name "Jif." Since 1956,
the respondents, using the brand name Jif, have commanded the market in lemon juice
sold in this way, though other traders have sold and do sell such juice in bottles (as do
the respondents themselves) and in yellow squeeze packs of various shapes and sizes.

 

[Voll]

Thank you for the information M80 and especially for SHM's website, which I didn't know existed. He has an astonishing collection of shaving gear.

 

[HoosierTrooper]

That's not just a Gem, that's an early Gem Cutlery 1912 Damaskeene, the best of the best. The razor, case and blade box look to be in great shape. Nice score!

 

[Voll]

Thanks HT, there are 4 blades in the box that I forgot to mention. Your comment may turn me into a collector!

 

[Sledgehammer39]

Nice haul!

 

[TheVez2]

Your Gillettes are a fat handled Early Tech and a ball handled NEW.

 

[mandoman]

very nice enjoy

 

[MacDaddy]

Your Gillettes are a fat handled Early Tech and a ball handled NEW.

Yup, these are right. The long-comb NEW might also be one of the earlier ones before the Gillette/Auto-Strop merger/hostile takeover. I'd be certain of that if it were a US-made model, but I'm not 100% sure if the Canadian-made ones got the same patent number stamping treatment as their American counterparts after the takeover happened.

 

[Voll]

Thank you TheVez2 and MacDaddy for your help.

 

[Voll]

MacDaddy,

I can now read the stamping on the handle of the ball-handled NEW and it says:

"Patented 1920 Canada"
"Other Patents Pending"

Does that help in narrowing down the date to before or after the merger/takeover?

Thanks

 

[mblakele]

The 1920 and pending don't help much, I think. But on Achim's site I see some Canadian NEW examples that might help. http://mr-razor.com/Rasierer/The NEW/1930s NEW Canada.JPG dated to 1930s and http://mr-razor.com/Rasierer/The NEW/1933 Gillette No77 Canadian green bakelite.jpg to 1933. The former has no patent dates and looks much like Voll's razor. The latter does appear to have some of the NEW patents, although they are in a different format than a US NEW. Per Achim by 1940 http://mr-razor.com/Rasierer/The NEW/1940 NEW gold special Canada.jpg looks more like a US NEW.

So if I had to guess I would put this ball-handle around 1930-33.