merkur slant bar???

[tykap]

Hi all,
I've got a DE slant bar that I need a little help identifying. I really want to call it a merkur but the only markings on the razor are "Coles N.Y." and "GERMANY" Nothing about merkur. I've googled,yahooed, and asked but I can't find any reference to Coles to anything merkur.
Thanks,
Tony

 

[Austin]

Tony, I have a Coles slant bar. It is just a rebadged merkur. Coles I believe was a cutlery store.

 

[tykap]

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I found a pic of your Coles slant bar here:
http://www.badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=3428&page=2
After I clean all the gunk off of mine I hope to get it as shiny as yours. Any idea on the history of these razors?
Tony

 

[Austin]

Tony, I think they were sold during the 60's through early 80's. That's about the extent of it. Coles was a store in Chicago with several other stores.

 

[Stan-The-Man]

COLES, HOFRITZ were made by MERKUR in Germany and I bet you could find a lot of other razors that were ingraved with different names, made by Merkur, some in America, but more so in Europe.

All fine razors, and I think the BEST RAZOR IS THE SLANT BAR.

 

[yasuo200365]

You don't really see re-branded Merkurs in Europe - as a manufacturer they were until recently pretty insignificant, just one of a long line from Germany.

I would say that they had more success in the U.S. with this rebranding exercise than they ever did in Europe. It was only until relatively recently, when DOVO acquired Merkur that the brand name started to take off.

Regards
John