Unique stamp on New Standard?

[Pikachu_Guy]

As always, I find the smallest details the most interesting w/ Gillettes.
Cleaned up this new standard and noticed it was double stamped 17B on both the top head plate and base plate.
Anyone seen this before? Perhaps another foreign type stamping to signify something?



Besides the 17B on the edge, its marked w/ a serial of 4313S

 

[Early Morning]

I was thinking maybe it is an institutional razor of sorts. Never seen that before.

 

[Pikachu_Guy]

Maybe an early prison razor?

That would be really cool.
I've actually never thought about it. Did inmates use safety razors? Besides of course the "Psycho" tech.

 

[Early Morning]

I don't of any other than the Psycho tech. 17B looks like it could be a room number though.

 

[BSAGuy]

I vote for a hotel room #. Interesting find.

 

[nuclearblast]

Can you post a picture of the serial #? The ''S'' suffix doesn't exist, and if indeed it's such a low serial number the suffix should be A.

In that case it would be one of the first NI produced, but the knob doesn't seem to indicate that. So I'm thinking the serial # is a bit longer and ends with a ''B'' - a 1924 razor?

Interesting find though.

 

[mr-razor]

... The ''S'' suffix doesn't exist, and if indeed it's such a low serial number the suffix should be A.

...

I´ve never seen this 17B stamp before, but I´ve a "S" serial number too:

 

[nuclearblast]

I´ve a "S" serial number too:

Because it's sterling silver?

The ''S'' suffix didn't exist on the regular New Improved razors as seen in the OP, that's what I meant. AFAIK serial numbers started with 1A and the last suffix was ''C''.
Could be wrong though.

 

[mr-razor]

Because it's sterling silver?

The ''S'' suffix didn't exist on the regular New Improved razors as seen in the OP, that's what I meant. AFAIK serial numbers started with 1A and the last suffix was ''C''.
Could be wrong though.

Krumholz says on page 184, that the "S" after the serial number is for sterling silver razors, but I´ve a gold plated New Improved with "S" too:

 

[nuclearblast]

Krumholz says on page 184, that the "S" after the serial number is for sterling silver razors, but I´ve a gold plated New Improved with "S" too:

That is only the second razor (other than sterling silver razors) that I've seen with the ''S'' suffix, but the other one is a NI Deluxe.

So they do exist but we don't know what they mean? Interesting stuff.

Still as I said, as far as the ''regular'' serial numbering goes, the ''S'' suffix doesn't exist.


What do you think about the 17B, Achim?

 

[mr-razor]

I´ve no idea about the 17B. Every day we see new stuff. It´s a never ending puzzle.

 

[MacDaddy]

I've got an "S" number on my gold New Improved De Luxe (below), too, and I know we've seen at least one or two others here on the forum besides Achim's. I think they were more likely "Special Order" razors, because they definitely weren't just silver.

I'm even doubtful that the heads of the razors in the third-party sterling sets, like Achim's above, are sterling silver themselves rather than just the normal silver-plated brass. It seems like the Krumholz reference was really the only reason for thinking that in the first place, and plenty of similar sterling sets turn up with standard serialed heads.

As for the "17B" I don't really have a good guess either. The only thing that I might say is that the type used in those stamps looks to be different from what Gillette was using for the serial numbering at the time, so I would assume it was added by someone else. Whether that was a third-party vendor using it for their own tracking purposes or the end recipient of the razor for who knows what, I couldn't say.

 

[Pikachu_Guy]

It's definitely an S mark, if that was to indicate a "special" razor, that would be super interesting too. Makes me even more intrigues where it could have came from?

As for the "17B" I don't really have a good guess either. The only thing that I might say is that the type used in those stamps looks to be different from what Gillette was using for the serial numbering at the time, so I would assume it was added by someone else. Whether that was a third-party vendor using it for their own tracking purposes or the end recipient of the razor for who knows what, I couldn't say.

Now that you mention it, the stamping is different from other Gillette's numbers, so I'm gonna agree w/ you in the thinking that a third party vendor did it. Maybe it was used in rotation, like rented out, and they stamped them to keep originals together.

Very interesting stuff

 

[Gillettie]

Interesting. Good guess on Gillette not stamping it. The number is stamped on the cap and base, so maybe someone did that to ensure the razors parts were not mixed and matched.. Maybe it was used at some institute and they wanted the razors to be used and then returned in the same condition and all parts kept to the same razor. The knob comes out of these right? But there is no number there? Whatever it was used for its unique, thats for sure.

 

[slant81]

That's pretty cool! Beautiful razor as well my friend! Great little piece of history. You should track it back through ownership! It would be great to hear where the engraving came from.

 

[alex2363]

I agree with Porter, that had to be added by some one else besides gillette.