"TV Special"

[VR6ofpain]

Nice...still if I had seen that pic I would have bid purely on the fact that it looked like a FTR. You are right though, you can't see the handle texture.

 

[Just looking]

Flat blade pan is a Jr. Aristocrat. Some Jr. Aristocrats were marketed in Rocket cases in Britain at one point. I have physical and anecdotal evidence to support this claim. Just thought I would toss that in to further muddy the waters!

This sounds like the Rocket I have. Here's a picture. everything looks as you have described. Looks like this one was marketed for Canada. The case has all the same info as the TV. Please, don't mind the soap.

Can I get a scan of the bottom of the case?

I wasn't able to get a decent scan. I managed to get a better picture though.

A Great razor! only if the handle was a little thicker.

+1

The top photo was hard to look at sideways, so I corrected and enlarged it.

Thanks for that. One of the side benefits of this post is that it has forced me to learn how take some better pictures and edit them as well.

 

[paydepst]

Nice...still if I had seen that pic I would have bid purely on the fact that it looked like a FTR. You are right though, you can't see the handle texture.

Exactly what I did.

 

[Gatorade]

The mystery continues.

Yes the mystery does continue. Very interesting. The instructions look like they are from a different razor. With that Bulldog handle it looks like #66 English Aristocrat. The French/English instructions are a dead giveaway for Montreal. It is possible that Gillette used the incorrect pictures in the instructions but I don't think I have seen that before. They were pretty good about that arround that time. Remember they gave different names to the same razor where only the packaging changed.

 

[MTgrayling]

...That being said the British market did receive a Rocket version of the 1958 TV SuperSpeed but it was not called a TV SuperSpeed in Britain doubtless because the British feared they might have to buy a licence for it too!

Does anyone know what these were called in England? I assume they were released in 1958 like the US version? I've been calling it a TV Special Rocket, but I'd like to know the proper name.

Charlie I wish you could have seen the photo that went with that auction. It was so blurry I didn't know what I was getting. I knew it was a Brit Flare Tip but until I opened the parcel I was unaware that a "Brit TV" existed. I think that photo is in a post on this forum somewhere I will have to try and find it. Anyway I was just trying to buy another BFTR to use as a shaver and ended up with another Gillette prima donna that will never shave another face!
I think Scott (Groundhog) also owns one but I don't believe his is cased.

You can add a third to the list.

And the auction photo. BTW: That GEM shaves pretty good.