Rotbart Razors

[jmudrick]

Can these be replated? As rough as this looks I'm very impressed with the shave this delivers.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[romsitsa]

The cap and handle can be replated in any plating shop, being brass. The comb is zamak, in my experience platers usually pass on it as the coating can fail no matter how good the plating job was.

Adam

 

[Pippirull]

Just won this beautiful travel Rotbart on auction. Simply couldn't resist. Have been looking for a #15, and I guess this is the travel version of the #15? Any clue of when these where produced?
Really happy about this score!

 

[romsitsa]

Hello all,

after work visited an antique store near to our office, the owner very rarely has razors, but is a nice guy to have a chat with. Today he told me he has a leather box with a razor in the middle.
I tought it was a Gillette No.00.
Then he added it has bakelite tubes.
So a British Gillette from the 30ies...
He almost gave it up, but I had to know what it was.
After 15-20 minutes a burgundy leather case appeared.
Woohooo.
As usual, we had a little chat and it turned out he got the set from an estate clearance that is roughly 100 m-s away from where I live.
Weird...

After a baking soda/aluminium foil bath, the razor looks to be silver plated, the neck piece is bare zamak, but I don't think it was ever plated as it has no remains of any plating, while the rest of the razor is more or less factory fresh silver.

I would like to replace the mirror, so if anyone has a case in better condition, I'd like to ask for some guidance and measurements, if possible.

And some questions as there is not much info on the 5004.
Did these sets come with a blade bank or only a pack of blades?
Can the brush be original to this set?
It fits the container, but has no markings, the handle aluminium and wood.



Thank you

Adam

 

[nemo]

Nice score, Adam, I'm jealous!
Maybe a pic from Mr-Razor's 1937 catalog ... Safety Razor of the Month, December 2013 - Rotbart

 

[Useless shaver]

Excellent, Adam, excellent! Congratulations!

Don't know much about Rotbarts (that is an understatement...) but that handle reminds me of the Gillette Popular. I guess this (your) razor was made shortly before Gillette acquired Rotbart?

 

[Useless shaver]

Excellent, Adam, excellent! Congratulations!

Don't know much about Rotbarts (that is an understatement...) but that handle reminds me of the Gillette Popular. I guess this (your) razor was made shortly before Gillette acquired Rotbart?

 

[romsitsa]

Doug, Juan,

thank you. Don't be jelous, you have a chrome Toggle
I'm also quite unfamiliar with Rotbarts, but being silver plated rather than nickel, I'd guess it's early 30ies.
The handle pattern is beautiful, if Rotbart would have used brass instead of zamak, I'd maybe stick with the No. 15s instead of Gillettes.

I took the case apart for some cleaning and regluing, and have to say Rotbart used A+ materials. The leather covering the case is thin like air, but is amazingly smooth and soft.
The casting of the bakelite parts are also exquisite.

A

 

[Chronarch]

Hello all,

after work visited an antique store near to our office, the owner very rarely has razors, but is a nice guy to have a chat with. Today he told me he has a leather box with a razor in the middle.
I tought it was a Gillette No.00.
Then he added it has bakelite tubes.
So a British Gillette from the 30ies...
He almost gave it up, but I had to know what it was.
After 15-20 minutes a burgundy leather case appeared.
Woohooo.
As usual, we had a little chat and it turned out he got the set from an estate clearance that is roughly 100 m-s away from where I live.
Weird...

After a baking soda/aluminium foil bath, the razor looks to be silver plated, the neck piece is bare zamak, but I don't think it was ever plated as it has no remains of any plating, while the rest of the razor is more or less factory fresh silver.

I would like to replace the mirror, so if anyone has a case in better condition, I'd like to ask for some guidance and measurements, if possible.

And some questions as there is not much info on the 5004.
Did these sets come with a blade bank or only a pack of blades?
Can the brush be original to this set?
It fits the container, but has no markings, the handle aluminium and wood.

View attachment 823794 View attachment 823791 View attachment 823792 View attachment 823793

Thank you

Adam

Adam,

Excellent score. To answer your question here is my nearly NOS 5004 set. It has a Bakelite blade bank and here is a pic of the brush as well. I have no measuring device handy or I would get you mirror dimensions. I'll try and get them soon though.

 

[romsitsa]

Thank you Cronarch,

if you can measure them, these would be the most important measurements for me:
thickness of the mirror
width of the faux leather "frame" around the mirror
Inner height and width of the mirror (the flat middle part)

Is the mirror glass?
Does the brush have any emblem, is the handle painted wood or bakelite?
Does the bladebank have any markings?

Yours

Adam

 

[romsitsa]

Hello and a little update.

Leather parts are polished, removed the remnants of the mirror and cleaned the suede liner.
Cleaned the containers and rewrapped to soap (it's used) to protect it a bit. It's a high quality, fatty soap with a nice scent.
Reglued the interior fittings and found a provisional blade bank in my spares.
The resin "evaporated" from the original knot so I glued in a new hog bristle one after polishing the metal.



Adam

 

[romsitsa]

Caught a two piece plastic Rotbart. Based on the design of the safety bar (quite similar to closed comb Gillette TTOs), these should be manufactured in the 50-ies, 60-ies?

Thanks

Adam

 

[nemo]

Caught a two piece plastic Rotbart. Based on the design of the safety bar (quite similar to closed comb Gillette TTOs), these should be manufactured in the 50-ies, 60-ies?

Quite a bit like the modern Tech head, I've got a similar aluminum model and it uses only the four corner tabs for blade alignment. Congrats!


And those are nice light razors I enjoy using, I've also got that 2-piece handle design on a No.15 style head.

 

[romsitsa]

Thank you Nemo,

after the shave it's really close to a Tech. I loaded a well used Wilkinson blade, it was like a tugboat. Replaced it with a new green Astra, it was still like a tugboat.
It will be a nice razor but requires different technique and sharp blades.

Adam

 

[mr-razor]

Caught a two piece plastic Rotbart. Based on the design of the safety bar (quite similar to closed comb Gillette TTOs), these should be manufactured in the 50-ies, 60-ies?

Thanks

Adam

it´s from a 5033 set. Here is a 1957 catalog (I´ve a 1953 catalog, that shows him too):

 

[romsitsa]

Hello Achim,

thank you. Do you know when Rotbart changed from the No. 15 head to the Tech type head?
Mine came in a grooming kit, I suspect it was similar to the British Gillettes, Rotbart supplied razors and blades to third party manufacturers who sold these unbranded travel sets.

Adam

 

[mr-razor]

Adam, I don´t know it. The 1957 catalog shows the No15 head and I´ve no later catalog. I´ve the same razor with No15 head from Gillette. The 5033 comes with a red case (and No15 head) too:

 

[romsitsa]

Hello Achim,

did Rotbart used the same date codes as Gillette? My razor came with some NOS Extradünn blades coded E4, would this mean 1959?

Adam

 

[mr-razor]

maybe yes. The Rotbart blades are made in the Berlin Gillette plant.

 

[romsitsa]

Hello,

caught an "rfb" in the wilderness, so made a family photo of the major Rotbart head types. At least I hope there were no further variations, not counting korn, and Slim twist type heads.

I found no information on the "fat handle" rfb, except for some photos, did it have a model number or a name?
From photos I thought the handles pattern was machined, but as it turned out it was stamped from the inside out, quite a piece of engineering imho.

Thanks

Adam