NEW and OLD

[BubbleBoy]

I picked these up on my recent trip to Minneapolis. I am NOT a Gillette expert, although I do have a very small collection of vintage Gillettes. Am I correct that it's a "NEW" on the left and an "OLD" on the right? The NEW seems to have had some sort of red lacquer on it at some point, there's still a bit of the stuff on it in a couple of places. Anyhow it seems to be stained some sort of reddish bronze - not sure how it will look after polishing. Oh, and what type of metal are these? I'm guessing just brass, but if there's something I need to know before polishing please let me know - I use MAAS.




The "OLD" seems to be a little worse for the wear. The handle is cracking a bit on each end and there's some plate-loss on the underside of the head.




Anyway, I picked these up for $7 each, along with a vintage brush/razor stand for $10. Not sure what they're worth. I bet the NEW will clean up nicely. The OLD may as well, but there's not a whole lot I can do about the cracking and plate-loss.

Thoughts?

 

[dcobranchi]

Am I correct that it's a "NEW" on the left and an "OLD" on the right?

Yep. The NEW appears to a Long Comb.

Oh, and what type of metal are these?

I believe the OLDs were solid brass. The NEWs had copper tops and brass base plates and handles. Yours were gold plated at one time. Maas should do fine.

 

[Sledgehammer39]

Nice little haul!

 

[MacDaddy]

I picked these up on my recent trip to Minneapolis. I am NOT a Gillette expert, although I do have a very small collection of vintage Gillettes. Am I correct that it's a "NEW" on the left and an "OLD" on the right?

If I'm being picky then usually you'll see "Old Type" and not "OLD," because that's what Gillette actually marked them as once the New Improved, the generation between the Old Type and the NEW, came out.

The NEW seems to have had some sort of red lacquer on it at some point, there's still a bit of the stuff on it in a couple of places. Anyhow it seems to be stained some sort of reddish bronze - not sure how it will look after polishing.

Yes, the standard NEWs had an incredibly thin layer of gold that was covered by a layer of lacquer. The lacquer may have been clear at one point and colored as it aged, or it may have always had a tint to make the color look richer. Any kind of polishing that would have an effect will very likely remove the lacquer and or the gold. So you may just want to leave well enough alone there, and just go for "clean." The bare metal "naked NEW" look is a nice one, too, but yours doesn't really look in that bad shape to begin with that I'd say just strip it.

I believe the OLDs were solid brass. The NEWs had copper tops and brass base plates and handles.

I know folks always call it "copper" around here, and I'm not a metallurgist but I've talked with some folks who are and I think it's really more likely that the base metals of the NEWs (and other two-tone Gillettes) are just two different kinds of brass -- yellow brass, that everyone's used to, and red brass, which has a higher copper content.

 

[BubbleBoy]

I use Kaboom for my old nickled razors. Is it okay on brass?

 

[CGW409]

Yep. The NEW appears to a Long Comb.



I believe the OLDs were solid brass. The NEWs had copper tops and brass base plates and handles. Yours were gold plated at one time. Maas should do fine.

Maas is a pure 100% no go on gold in particularly on a NEW because of the thin gold wash.
it needs a "safe for gold/silver plate" polish.
The Old's cracked handle is not a problem if the top and bottom of the handle is coming off a little marine epoxy can set that to right.