On the Vintage Razor Market (no Shavepocalypse Soon)

[koso]

This thread is inspired in part by other threads about insane prices for razors on eBay, and how this might be in part because demand is outstripping supply.

I've been pulling blades out of old razors quite a bit lately - picking up lots and such.

Seeing these old blades in razors covered in the schmutz of years makes me think about the guys who must have owned them.

Clearly these are the blades that were loaded on the day these gents passed away. The razors have come through 30 years or more (judging by the era of the blades; lots of Thin and Blue Gillettes): estate sale, flea market or antique store, or eBay, to me. Nobody ever thought to pull the blade out.

While it's a bit of a melancholy chore for me to dispose of the blades, I wonder if the original owner wouldn't get a bit of a kick out of knowing his old razor is being cleaned up and put back into circulation, if not use.

Then I think he would really get a charge out of knowing what somebody out there might pay for it.

And that's why I don't believe we're going to see a depletion of supply of these razors any time soon.

There is still a large number of members of the Greatest Generation around. Lots of these fellows have Fat Boys, Aristocrats, Techs and Presidents in the backs of drawers and haven't given them a thought in years.

As they move on to their ultimate reward, their old shave tools will show up in the marketplace.

Hopefully, with the blades already removed.

 

[Topgumby]

Heck, anybody who was or was married to somebody who started shaving before that fateful day in 1971 when Gillette shipped the Trac II might have a DE or SE safety razor tucked away.

The WWII generation is leaving us at a heartbreaking pace, but those up to the Vietnam generation, for the most part, used pre-cartridge razors.

Recently I saw a sign while driving on the weekend in my area, "Estate Sale". I pulled up and went in to the suburban house.

The hobbies of a lifetime were being sold off...lots of vintage tools, fishing gear, firearms. I noted a photograph of a young couple, he in his WWII army uniform, she beaming at what I assumed was his safe return, as he sported a ruptured duck as well as a CIB. I wondered if the fetching lass was one of the old ladies I'd doffed my hat to when I entered.

A bored young man sat in the backyard workshop, perhaps a grandson given the duty of watching over the few rifles that were for sale. Next to them I noted a bayonet for a 98K Mauser...almost certainly a war trophy. The guns were priced by somebody who knew what they were worth, but the bayonet was going for a song.

I asked the kid if he knew what that bayonet was. He said it belonged to his grandfather, and that was about it. When I told him that it was a German bayonet that he'd brought back from the war, he looked at it with some interest. I told him that I'd buy it, but only if he'd keep it. He said he couldn't do that, but he'd buy it for himself. I felt better about being there.

Yes, I went and looked for shaving stuff, and all I saw were some empty Old Spice decanters. He was an Old Spice guy, and he'd fought in Europe, and he liked to hunt and fish. I bet he and my Old Man would have gotten along pretty well.

I left with a bunch of cedar shoe trees, four bucks a set. For some reason, I can use those and it doesn't bother me. Had I found a nice razor, I'd have purchased it, but I doubt that I'd keep it because every time I saw it I'd see the young guy with the whistle bait in the picture.

I probably don't have the right temperament to be a good estate sale razor shopper. I prefer the layer of insulation that comes at an auction or the second hand store.

Makes me wonder what my estate sale will be like....Is there a way to leave my stuff to the BST after I'm gone?

 

[Rockytop]

Thanks Chip and Topgumby for these two interesting posts. As I was reading both these this morning, I was thinking, these are better than most of what I read in my morning paper every morning, and these are free. I only wish I had your gifts in writing. As I pick up each vintage razor I now have, and the others I know I'll own in the future, I'll try to imagine the road that brought it into my hand. Colorful words on what happens to all of us....life.

 

[bandit82ta]

Very interesting posts. Any others that would post similar I would certainly enjoy the read.

 

[thunderball]

Heck, anybody who was or was married to somebody who started shaving before that fateful day in 1971 when Gillette shipped the Trac II might have a DE or SE safety razor tucked away.

The WWII generation is leaving us at a heartbreaking pace, but those up to the Vietnam generation, for the most part, used pre-cartridge razors.

Recently I saw a sign while driving on the weekend in my area, "Estate Sale". I pulled up and went in to the suburban house.

The hobbies of a lifetime were being sold off...lots of vintage tools, fishing gear, firearms. I noted a photograph of a young couple, he in his WWII army uniform, she beaming at what I assumed was his safe return, as he sported a ruptured duck as well as a CIB. I wondered if the fetching lass was one of the old ladies I'd doffed my hat to when I entered.

A bored young man sat in the backyard workshop, perhaps a grandson given the duty of watching over the few rifles that were for sale. Next to them I noted a bayonet for a 98K Mauser...almost certainly a war trophy. The guns were priced by somebody who knew what they were worth, but the bayonet was going for a song.

I asked the kid if he knew what that bayonet was. He said it belonged to his grandfather, and that was about it. When I told him that it was a German bayonet that he'd brought back from the war, he looked at it with some interest. I told him that I'd buy it, but only if he'd keep it. He said he couldn't do that, but he'd buy it for himself. I felt better about being there.

Yes, I went and looked for shaving stuff, and all I saw were some empty Old Spice decanters. He was an Old Spice guy, and he'd fought in Europe, and he liked to hunt and fish. I bet he and my Old Man would have gotten along pretty well.

I left with a bunch of cedar shoe trees, four bucks a set. For some reason, I can use those and it doesn't bother me. Had I found a nice razor, I'd have purchased it, but I doubt that I'd keep it because every time I saw it I'd see the young guy with the whistle bait in the picture.

I probably don't have the right temperament to be a good estate sale razor shopper. I prefer the layer of insulation that comes at an auction or the second hand store.

Makes me wonder what my estate sale will be like....Is there a way to leave my stuff to the BST after I'm gone?

Cool post.