Seeking Info on King Gillette Pocket Ed. Safety Razor

[Gabrielle184]

Hi Folks -

I'm cleaning up my Canadian Grandad's Gillette (from Canada) & would be very grateful if anyone could help me with the age, or feedback in general.

It has a serial number stamped on the inside of the blade support: PC 34717. I've tried deciphering the number against B&B's "US Gillette Dating Information", but am confused by the double-letter prefix, "PC".

The case appears to be gold plated, with purple velvet lining & a fabric label with the diamond Gillette logo. The underside of the case is labelled "Pocket Edition", has the "Patented In" list of countries and dates (United States thru Japan "and Other Countries"), and "King Gillette" on the bottom.
I'm attaching some fotos (apologies for poor quality).

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[bakerbarber]

Nice.

I've not seen a plain top case before. It could have been a seal skin or pigskin case with the leather removed?

The knob appears to be non standard. Perhaps the ball end popped out and someone replaced it with the one on it now. I've not seen one like it.

Very interesting!!

 

[MacDaddy]

No, there were plain metal cases. I've got a few. And I swear I've seen another thread here from someone who had that same odd looking handle, possibly even in a Pocket Edition set as well. I'll see if I can find that. The Canadian plant was doing some interesting things of its own with handles -- they were the ones that developed the first ball-end handle around the same time as this razor would have been made. It was a solid single piece with a thinner shaft than the later tube ones.

The "PC" serial numbers came out of Gillette's Montreal plant in its early days of operation, but I don't think anyone has been able to match them up with actual dates. The case style you have with the flip latch instead of the push-button latch is the older style, too.

All in all it looks like a good, honest, old Pocket Edition to me.

 

[MacDaddy]

And I swear I've seen another thread here from someone who had that same odd looking handle, possibly even in a Pocket Edition set as well. I'll see if I can find that.

Found it, and except for the latch style on the case it's exactly the same as your grandfather's. In fact it's not far off of your serial number, too. This might help us line up the PC numbers a bit -- at least the case style change gives us a reference point.

It was actually part of BrianDiPalma's two threads on the ABC Pocket Edition sets (Part One - Razors and Part Two - Cases) which are very worth reading through.

 

[kirk 988]

No, there were plain metal cases. I've got a few. And I swear I've seen another thread here from someone who had that same odd looking handle, possibly even in a Pocket Edition set as well. I'll see if I can find that. The Canadian plant was doing some interesting things of its own with handles -- they were the ones that developed the first ball-end handle around the same time as this razor would have been made. It was a solid single piece with a thinner shaft than the later tube ones.

The "PC" serial numbers came out of Gillette's Montreal plant in its early days of operation, but I don't think anyone has been able to match them up with actual dates. The case style you have with the flip latch instead of the push-button latch is the older style, too.

All in all it looks like a good, honest, old Pocket Edition to me.

i thought this too

 

[bakerbarber]

That is NICE!

It's wicked rare then.

I thought Canadians all had beards. Like Grizzly Adams?

 

[RocketMan]

That is NICE!

It's wicked rare then.

I thought Canadians all had beards. Like Grizzly Adams?

Most of us indeed do!! Here I am before discovering the wonderful shave experience of vintage razors!!

 

[ERVARGASNY]

Wow nice set, love that style handle. Never seen anything like that before.

 

[Gabrielle184]

Thanks everyone for the helpful info. The set you rediscovered, MacDaddy, is almost identical! After browsing BrianDiPalma's two threads on the ABC Pocket Edition sets it looks like this is ABC (Patent Dates on underside of case, posts are short & round, case has cloth patch for the Gillette trademark logo & does not state "Made in USA"), a No. 500B ("Gold Plated Case & Razor") perhaps?

I'm wondering about the Montreal - ABC connection. Was ABC producing parts (in Trenton) for international plants to assemble locally?

 

[Intrigued]

I'm wondering about the Montreal - ABC connection. Was ABC producing parts (in Trenton) for international plants to assemble locally?

I think the answer is yes.

Here is a later version of an Empire set that I own with a Canadian built razor. I don't know where or by who (Gillette or ABC) the case was made.






You can see from this photo that the razor and case were together for a long time, ie. not a missmatch.



Note the handle of the Canadian ABC type is solid like the Shell handle to the left not a tube like the American old type to the right.

 

[Caydel]

I'm wondering about the Montreal - ABC connection. Was ABC producing parts (in Trenton) for international plants to assemble locally?

I have a similar razor, posted about it here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...on-Sets-Part-One-Razors?p=4198261#post4198261

I don't think ABC was shipping parts to Montreal - as far as I am aware, the Montreal plant was operational in late 1906 while the ABC contract began sometime in 1907. I wonder if perhaps similar tooling for the heads was sent to both factories, which resulted in the similar blade positioning posts...

On the other hand, the two relative dates might be incorrect...

 

[amishmotorboat]

I've seen that handle before too. I can't remember if it was on a Canadian or British set, but I'm pretty sure it's authentic.

 

[ERVARGASNY]

Nice.

I've not seen a plain top case before. It could have been a seal skin or pigskin case with the leather removed?

The knob appears to be non standard. Perhaps the ball end popped out and someone replaced it with the one on it now. I've not seen one like it.

Very interesting!!

its real Bakerbarber I have 2 of them,one in Gold and the other one in Silver. They show up on the bay every once in a while, ill see if i can take some pics later on.