I just received a puck of older Williams today. It is a .23 cent box, and has the "Special Offer" to save three dollars on an "Exclusive Williams Americana Shaving Mug honoring the 200th Anniversary of America, individually hand cast in the 'New Pewter' Armetale..." so this must be from '75 or '76. Is this the good stuff? It certainly feels "Tallowier" than the new stuff when you hold it on your hand. Oh, and the puck is wrapped in the order form for the pewter mug. I was thinking I would send in the form and redeem it to see what sort of response I get from Combe.
"Vintage" Williams?
- Thread starter Blondie
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I had the same packaging on a puck I used to own, but it had an expiration date on the offer (1980 sometime).
Congrats. It's one of the variations on the good stuff.
I have a puck of about the same time frame mine says $.29 on it though also in the limited edition wrapper. Tried it out today and it is awesome soap.
Tallow rich lather bombs for 29 cents. And we claim to live in an era of "progress"!
Congrats on scoring the real Williams.
Maybe now you can see the Williams-haters' (ex-Williams lovers') aversion to the current formula.
Maybe now you can see the Williams-haters' (ex-Williams lovers') aversion to the current formula.
I have yet to try that particular version, but the Williams Luxury, and Williams Tonsorial I have tried have both been very good tallow based soaps.
Equal in performance to Tabac (many of us use Tabac as a baseline, and it's a good comparison to make, as most on the board have experienced it at some point).
The current formulas best home is in the bottom of a garbage can, thus far all of the vintage stuff I have tried has been very good.
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According to the Wikipedia article on Bar Codes:
Sounds like bar codes were on most products by 1975 (maybe Williams was behind the game in this regard). If the box lacks a bar code, that would likely date the product to before 1975.
Sounds like bar codes were on most products by 1975 (maybe Williams was behind the game in this regard). If the box lacks a bar code, that would likely date the product to before 1975.
I have two boxes of Vintage Williams with the "Special Offer" for the mug. One of them says save $3 off like yours, and the other says save $4 off. The save $3 version has the .23 cent price tag permanently written on the package from the factory, the price circle on the save $4 version is blank.
The save $3 off version says
The ad copy for the save $4 variation is the same, except for the last line:
Makes me wonder if the the item was being offered in advance of the actual 200th Birthday of our country. Perhaps it was up for sale a complete year before the actual anniversary? The 200th Anniversary was quite the cause for excitement, so this is certainly plausible.
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So far I've only found one soap that ranks with vintage williams (up to and including the 2000era tallow first stuff) for me. That's my Mystery soap off BST. Tabac and Moos come close. Then there's Old spice, MWF, Safari, Colgate, and a few others.
I do still have a few vintages to try though.
I started buying Old Spice pucks in 1974, never stockpiling them thinking how could they ever disappear. I can remember pretty much any store had both Williams and OS on the shelf...oh what forsight I lacked adding a handful of 23 cent Williams to the shopping basket. I actually never used Williams until last year though. My last cake of Old Spice I used up about 3 or so years ago....never realizing the era was over.
Now I wonder about stockpiling CADE and PdP just in case.
Now I wonder about stockpiling CADE and PdP just in case.
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I'm gonna go try it now...will report back after the shave!
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Ok, so I just got done with my first Vintage Williams shave. All I can say is that the new formula is far superior to this old crap!
Just Kidding! This stuff was thick, creamy, made a quicker lather than Tabac, and was all around a better experience. It was really amazing that something 35 years old still performs as it was intended. Good stuff, and I give it
. Tabac still gets 
Just Kidding! This stuff was thick, creamy, made a quicker lather than Tabac, and was all around a better experience. It was really amazing that something 35 years old still performs as it was intended. Good stuff, and I give it
. Tabac still gets 
How do you know if the williams you have is the vintage version or not? I have 2 pucks one is in the box with a .21 in the little price circle and has a residue on the unused puck, no paper, the other has no price on it but the paper inside has a b1279 stamped on it. Both have advertisements for Aqua Velva Lime, Ice Blue, Menthol Mist and Redwood on the inner flap of the box.
For the most part, it's the lack of a bar code on the box. Bar codes seem to become prevalent around 1975, so any box without a bar code is pre 1975ish.
Also, if the list of ingredients lists Tallow as the first ingredient you are looking at a box of Vintage Williams. If there is no ingredients list at all, you are looking at an even older box.
Also, there was a recent posting about this, but several of those Aqua Velva scents were discontinued by the very early 80's. (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showpost.php?p=2014379&postcount=103)
There are also small changes in the design of the box over time, if you have been trained to look for them.
Based upon how you describe the boxes, you most certainly have two boxes of Vintage Williams, and it will be a phenomenal soap.
Do you have any photos??
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It appears there is vintage Williams, and there is vintage Williams. Anything made prior to Combe getting the brand in 2002 seems to be an easier lather than the current product.
In 1977 the rump facilities at Glastonbury closed, probably marking another change. The company got sold to Nabisco in 1971. Before that there were various mergers and and such in the 50's, and there were probably formula changes before then.
When you are dealing with a product that's been around in one form or another since about 1840, "Vintage" can be a relative term!
In 1977 the rump facilities at Glastonbury closed, probably marking another change. The company got sold to Nabisco in 1971. Before that there were various mergers and and such in the 50's, and there were probably formula changes before then.
When you are dealing with a product that's been around in one form or another since about 1840, "Vintage" can be a relative term!
Alright here you go. One box lists the contents with tallow being number one the other is old enough that they did not have to. They both say they were distributed by the JB Williams Co. out of Cranford NJ.
Those both look fairly old to me!! There is tons of Vintage Williams goodness waiting to touch your face.
The newer of the boxes I would date to the 1970's, as I have a puck with the the blank price circle, that also advertises for the 1976 Bicentennial. However, I have another box advertising the same Bicentennial promo that also lacks an ingredient list, and the price circle is permanently filled in with .21 cents. As I mentioned above the Bicentennial promo was probably run over the course of two years. One of the boxes says $3 off of the Bicentennial promo mug, and one says $4 off.
The box with the price circle filled in is apparently older than the box that has a blank pricing circle. Since my two boxes promoting the Bicentennial would by rights have been produced between 1975-1976, that would make your box without the promo, and the open price circle post 1976, and the box that has the .21 cent price tag prior to 1975-1976.
Even if we can't properly date them, they are both old enough that they are a superior formula to the current production Williams, and thus will provide you many wonderful shaves.
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Williams smells like Murphy's oil soap.
TYVM for the pictures. Most interesting for me is the ingredients.
Soapmaking has been a hobby of mine for some time now and I have been playing with the idea of making my own shaving soap. I rendered 8 pounds of tallow last week and been debating about what to do with it. Think I'll place an order for Stearic Acid next week and give a try.
//ckirk
Soapmaking has been a hobby of mine for some time now and I have been playing with the idea of making my own shaving soap. I rendered 8 pounds of tallow last week and been debating about what to do with it. Think I'll place an order for Stearic Acid next week and give a try.
//ckirk
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