unidentified DE safety razor

[thebeardedman]

Hi everyone,

I recently found this saucy number at an estate sale. At first look it seems in great condition.

Can anyone help me identify this? Also any tips or suggested reference areas on assessing the quality before I shave would be tremendously appreciated.

Thank you!

Mike

 

[_MementoMori_]

Gillette Flare Tip Superspeed. Great shavers!

 

[thebeardedman]

Lovely!! Thank you very much; it was put in for free after haggling over a bookcase. I saw it and fell in love. Definitely looking forward to giving it a try!

 

[_MementoMori_]

Oh, as far as value is concerned - about $15 if it works correctly, isn't too brassy, and isn't missing any endcaps. I can see from your pic that at least one of them is intact.

 

[Niles]

Those are really good shavers. I used mine last night.

 

[MacDaddy]

That'll be the '60s-style, too, from the lack of lateral grooves in the TTO knob. If you look under the head there will be a single letter on the left side and a single number on the right (1-4) that you can use to narrow its manufacture date down to a particular quarter of a year with these tables on the wiki. The letter is the year, and the number the quarter of that year that it was made.

 

[AlanL]

Oh, as far as value is concerned - about $15 if it works correctly, isn't too brassy, and isn't missing any endcaps. I can see from your pic that at least one of them is intact.

From '62 on they didn't have end caps. So that's probably OK.

 

[thebeardedman]

That's great to hear; I am definitely looking forward to it.

 

[thebeardedman]

The little beaut has an "L" on the inside, so it is from 1966!

 

[celestino]

Good find and enjoy the Superspeed!

 

[nemo]

From '62 on they didn't have end caps.

 

[AlanL]

Before 62, the end caps were used to cover the folded extensions of the center bar. Starting in 62, they got rid of these extensions, and instead they soldered the center bar directly to a single layer of polished metal at the end of the head.