These look to be beautiful razors. I've never tried one / seen one in person. I'd love to know your take on this specific razor.
Please tell me about Aristocrat Razors...
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garyg
B&B membership has its percs
Hey Matt - the Aristocrat covers a lot of ground from the 30's to at least the late 60's, they appear in most cases to be gold plated high end packaged version of the commoner razors of their time. For example, I have two 'Crats - one a No Date TTO that seems to be mechanically identical to a no date notched SS from the same era, just with a gold finish that is worn. The box is fancy compared to the plastic case for the basic SS, and the knurling appears to be more ornate. The second I have is an M-1, which seems to be identical to a Gold Slim Adjustable. I am sure there's someone more qualified will chime in, In my two examples the shave is the same as the non-gilded cousin.
The most commonly seen Aristocrats are the 40's version that come with minor variations extending into the 1950's (no endcaps, endcaps, no notch, notched, smooth upper and lower bands on handle, knurled upper band, etc.). These are all TTO solid safety bar razors. These don't shave terribly different (IMHO) and I love these razors as a mainstay of my rotation. They were all gold plated (thinly) with a lacquer finish and this starts to wear very easily. I've seen and owned plenty, but the finish on most of them was not in great condition. This does not affect the shave, though.
These are one of my favorites!! Strongly recommended!
These are one of my favorites!! Strongly recommended!
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I have a late 40's no-notch aristocrat (referred to as an aristocrat one-piece tech razor in the instruction booklet I believe) which is the best razor I've used so far. My go to razor used to be a red tip superspeed but I found it to be just a little too wide of a blade gap for me. My aristocrat seems to have a slightly smaller blade gap than the red tip but exposes more of the blade out from the silo doors. This quality seems to enable the razor to retain most of the aggressiveness of the red tip but it moves across my face in a much smoother manner.
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This is an interesting observation in comparing the Aristocrat to the Red Tip, and one that I hadn't heard before.
this is an interesting observation in comparing the aristocrat to the red tip, and one that i hadn't heard before.
+1
garyg
B&B membership has its percs
The most commonly seen Aristocrats are the 40's version that come with minor variations extending into the 1950's (no endcaps, endcaps, no notch, notched, smooth upper and lower bands on handle, knurled upper band, etc.). These are all TTO solid safety bar razors. These don't shave terribly different (IMHO) and I love these razors as a mainstay of my rotation. They were all gold plated (thinly) with a laquer finish and this starts to wear very easily. I've seen and owned plenty, but the finish on most of them was not in great condition. This does not affect the shave, though.
These are one of my favorites!! Strongly recommended!
Yep, this might be the thing that gets me to hatin' gold razors, even new my taste is for silver razors, they last
I prefer the look of the earliest ones myself, like the 1914 Aristocrat: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=86808
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Thanks for all the info =)
That's indeed a nice razor, a few weeks ago, someone was selling one on the bay, (although it was missing the razor, which was replaced for another one).
Anyway, by accident I erased my watch list, and that was the last time I ever knew about that set.
I think this thread needs some pictures! 
US Aristocrats:
British Aristocrats:
US Aristocrats:
British Aristocrats:
garyg
B&B membership has its percs
Nice shots - they show maybe the one area where the Brits had it better - razors-
But there were later Aristocrats .. like this 67, photo borrowed from Mr. Razor ..
But there were later Aristocrats .. like this 67, photo borrowed from Mr. Razor ..
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- #14
Ok, I need to try one =)
I think I am liking the british ones a bit more for some reason...
I think I am liking the british ones a bit more for some reason...
Pics add so much more to this thread!! Nice!
